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THE ART OF SPEECH. 



IN TWO VOLUMES. 



STUDIES IN POETRY AND PROSE. 



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BY 



L. TV TOWNSEND, D. D., 

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FROFESSOR IN BOSTON UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR OF ** CREDO,' 
ETC, ETC 



-EB 20 1891 



NEW YORK: 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 

I 885. 






COPYRIGHT BY 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

1879. 



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TO 



J. H. VINCENT, D. D., 

IMS MASTKB OF SABBATH SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES, AND 

THE PROJECTOR AXD ORGAISTIZER OF 

THE people's college, 

E;ijb €xtntm 
18 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 



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NUV 



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i6'925 



PREFACE. 



The leading genius of the People's College at 
Chautauqua Lake, with a view of providing for 
his course a text-book, asked for the publication 
of the following laws and principles of speech. 

The author, not seeing sufficient reason for 
withholding what had been of much practical 
benefit to himself, consented. 

The subject-matter herein contained is an out- 
growth from occasional instructions given while 
occupying the chair of Sacred Rhetoric. 

The author is quite sure, in his treatment of 
the subject, that he is indebted, directly or indi- 
rectly, to every one who has ever written upon 
language. This expression of indebtedness is 
also a confession of both obligation and grati- 
tude to the earnest and faithful pioneers and 
predecessors in the field of speech-lore. 

The frequent reference to the Bible as author- 
ity and as a source of illustrations may possibly 



6 PREFACE, 

be criticised ; but further reflection will, perhaps^ 
produce a conviction in the minds of all, that the 
course herein adopted, while in line with spe- 
cific professional duties, is also the very best 
method even when venturing before a larger 
public. The lofty and inspiring conceptions of 
the Bible, the linguistic purity of the Common 
Version, together with its universal distribution, 
rendering it of easy access to every English 
student wherever he may chance to be, com- 
bine, it must be confessed, in making the Bible 
a more apt and convenient book for rhetorical 
reference than is any other. 

With these explanations and statements, we 
give this treatise to the public. For its imper- 
fections we offer no excuse, and consequently 
expect no toleration. But upon the discovery of 
errors, under a more careful revision they will be 
faithfully corrected. 



CONTENTS, 



tr. kPTER PAOB 

I. — History of Speech 9 

II. — Theories of the Origin of Speech 29 

III. — Laws of Speech 36 

IV. — Diction and Idiom 63 

V. — Syntax 78 

VI. — Grammatical and Rhetorical 

Rules 98 

VII. — Style 124 

VIII. — Figures 147 

IX. — Poetic Speech 160 

X. — Prose Speech 177 

XI. — Poetic-Prose Speech . . . . 184 



Supplemental Notes 209 



THE ART OF SPEECH. 



CHAPTER I. 

History of Speech. 

Among our earliest observations we find people 
talking with one another. The phenomenon is 
looked upon, at first, as merely a commonplace 
event ; but later, the attention of the observer is ar- 
rested. A person having a thought, and wishing 
to awaken a corresponding thought in the mind 
of some one else, is seen to do so by emitting, at 
stated intervals, a portion of his breath, modified 
by certain movements of the vocal organs. These 
movements are known to start corresponding un- 
dulations in the atmosphere, which, reaching the 
hearing organs of the listener, are supposed to ex- 
cite in them vibrations corresponding identically 
with the original vibrations in the vocal organs of 
the speaker ; then, through the agency of instinct, 
invention, memory, and the laws of association, the 
two persons have the same thought. Thus, this act 
of speech, which seemed at first so very simple, 
becomes upon reflection almost the wonder of won- 



10 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

ders, bringing an astonishment which, with increas- 
ing surprise, returns to thoughtful minds at every 
fresh observation.* 

A second matter of attention, far less surprising 
but perhaps equally suggestive, is the fact that artic- 
ulate speech in the form of conversation or commu- 
nication, is a universal and an exclusive character- 
istic of humanity. No tribe, however sunken or 
brutish, is destitute of it ; yet by means of it no 
order of brutes, however marvellous their instincts or 
complete their surroundings, is able, strictly speak- 
ing, to converse. When, therefore. Homer and 
Hesiod characterize man as the " articulate animal," 
they state what modern investigation is not disposed 
to question.^ 

A third general observation relates to the number 
of different historic and existing tongues, and to the 
fact that different families of the human race are 
characterized by such differences in speech that in 
most instances one cannot be understood by another. 
The number of these distinct tongues now employed 
is variously estimated from eight to nine hundred, 
while those which have been spoken, but are now 
extinct, are supposed to be numbered by many more 
hundreds, perhaps by many thousands. Still, all 
languages, existing and extinct, are thought to have 
only three or four hundred distinct vocal sounds. 

These statements respecting the phenomena of 

♦ The notes in this treatise are indicated by the small 
Arabic numerals ^» 2,8, 5jc., and constitute the Supplement 
See p. 209- 



HISTORY OF SPEECH, \\ 

human speech naturally excite inquiries as to its 
origin and history. 

There is no record of the scientific study of speech- 
lore earlier than that of Protagoras, who went little 
further than to distinguish the moods of the verb. 
Plato called attention to the distinction between nouns 
and verbs. Aristotle discussed the conjunction and 
the article ; and the Stoics laid the foundations for 
modern scientific grammar. From 150 b. c. onward 
the difTerent countries of Europe made grammar a 
study in all schools of learning. Lord Bacon hinted 
that there might be a grammar that would group 
the data of several languages, and Gottfried Wilhelm 
von Leibnitz introduced the world to the modern 
science of language. The labors of such men as Hal- 
hed, Sir W. Jones, Colebrooke, M. de Chezy, Schle- 
gel, Franz Bopp, Grimm, Professor Wilson, Larsen, 
Beufey, Weber, Kuhn, Aufrecht, Steinthal, Eichhofl', 
Breal, Renan, Chavee, Max Muller, and our own 
eminent linguist. Professor Whitney, have in a 
measure realized the hint of Bacon, and have built 
a noble superstructure upon the foundation of Leib- 
nitz. 

Availing ourselves of the researches and discov- 
eries of these distinguished linguists, we briefly out 
line the subject of the chapter before us. 

We commence with one of the many branches 
of the tree of speech, the English, which seems 
nevertheless in a fair way of shadowing, as an in- 
ternational language, all other branches in its rapid 
and extended growth. 



12 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Only brief examination is necessary to disclose 
the fact that our English speech of to-day possesses 
elements taken from every important tongue on the 
globe. This fact is a clue to much historic lore 
respecting which the limits of our discussion permit 
us only to hint.^ 

Passing back historically, we find that the sixteenth 
century is one of the later decisive epochs in English 
speech. Under the influence of Dr. Johnson, more, 
perhaps, than that of any other man, aided, however, 
by many literary persons, including not a few edu- 
cated ladies who could speak and write the Latin 
and Greek tongues with great facility, it became 
so much the fashion of the day to naturalize Latin 
and Greek words, that before the following century 
thousands of such foreign words were in daily use. 
Thus and then our English tongue became both 
Gothic and classic, uniting the modern and ancient 
civilizations, and giving it, as is claimed, grace, ease, 
and amplitude, which would not otherwise have 
been secured. 

Taking other historic steps, modern English speech 
will be found dating about 1550 A. D.^ Thence to 
1350 the speech was Old English."* 

The period preceding is full of interest. The 
fact of chief importance, however, is that the Nor- 
mans, originally coming from Scandinavia, then 
conquering and settling in northern France and 
adopting the language of the subjugated people, 
crossed over the English Channel. In 1066 they con- 
quered the Anglo-Saxons and introduced into Eng- 



HISTORT OF SPEECH. 13 

land the Norman-French speech which they had 
adopted Li Normandy, the name these Scandinavians 
had given to the vanquished French provinces. 
Through this roundabout way came much of the 
Latin now found in the English tongue. The im- 
mediate outcome of these invasions and conquests 
was the speech denominated Semi-Saxon, dating 
1350 to 1150/ 

Another historic step carries us to the Anglo-Saxon 
period, 650 to 1150 A. D. During this time there 
were at least six different immigrations into England 
from the Teutonic regions of Europe. These emi- 
grants were chiefly from the so-called Angle stock, 
but from the Saxon confederation ; hence, as is gen- 
erally held, they were called Anglo-Saxons. Thence 
descended the English race of Great Britain. From 
the mingling of those Teutonic dialects on British 
soil sprung the old Anglo-Saxon speech. For three 
centuries, except during the twenty-six years of 
Danish, and the nine years of Norman domination, 
the Anglo-Saxons ruled England. It is not surpris- 
ing therefore that nearly five-eighths of modern 
English speech is Anglo-Saxon.^ 

It is also important to note that at the time this 
Teutonic speech entered England it was also the 
prevailing language of Iceland, the north of Ireland, 
Norway, Sweden, the eastern shores of the Baltic 
Sea, Denmark, and Germany. 

We thus trace English speech, with its extended 
relationships, to Germany.^ 

Having thus entered on this historic trail, we find 



14 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

no little difficulty in limiting the research, for Teu- 
tonic speech invites inquiry respecting its earlier 
historic connections. In complying with the invi- 
tation, we are introduced to an ancient civilized peo- 
ple who dwelt somewhere in the vast plateau of 
Iran, extending from the Indus to the Euphrates 
and from the Oxus to the Persian Gulf. This peo- 
ple, to whom has been given the name Aryans, used 
a language which has imbedded in it much interest- 
ing and suggestive history. Migrations of portions 
of this ancient and enterprising people, at different 
times and in different directions, spread their speech 
far and near. 

Certain Aryan families went southward into India, 
others northward through Armenia ; others over- 
spread the beautiful peninsulas of Greece, Italy, and 
Spain, while others penetrated the forests of Central 
Germany, and still others, who were yet more ven- 
turesome, took possession of Gaul and the British 
Isles.^ This widely dispersed people, in consequence 
of the lapse of time and a multitude of changes in- 
cident to varieties of climate, habits of thought, and 
modes of life, introduced modifications into their 
original mother-speech, resulting in a well-defined 
family of languages. In India the speech became 
Sanskrit^ in Armenia and Persia it became the 
Zend^ in Russia the Slavonic^ in Germany the 
Teutonic^ in Greece the Hellenic^ in Iiuly the 
Italic^ and in some parts of the British Isles and in 
the west of France the Keltic, 

This group of languages, apparently differing 



HISTORY OF SPEECH. 15 

much from one another, yet retaining such funda- 
mental resemblances as render their primitive identity 
unquestionable, has been designated by various 
terms, such as the Indo^ Germanic^ a term, however, 
which savors too much of national prepossession; 
l^he Indo-European^ a far more appropriate desig- 
nation tlian the former ; the Japhetic^ those using 
this primitive speech being supposed to be descend- 
ants from Japhet ; and the Aryan^ the historic name 
applied to the people originally speaking this mother- 
tongue. 

It thus appears that the Teutonic, from which has 
come so largely our English speech, is traced back 
through a period of not less than three or four thou- 
sand years, from Britain through Germany to its 
Asiatic home in the regions already designated. 
Of these family connections written history and 
tradition afford strong, if not absolutely conclusive 
evidence, whilst the proof derived from critical lin- 
guistic study is regarded by all scholarly minds 
as indisputable.^ This remarkable group of lan- 
guages is found spoken by nearly all modern civil- 
ized nations.^^ 

But upon extending the research and while seek- 
ing the origin of this Aryan family of languages, 
history and tradition shade off into a darkness that is 
almost total. It is an aggravating fact that the begin- 
nings of the so-termed primitive languages are not 
only shrouded in obscurity, but the languages them- 
selves seem as perfect when historic light dawns 
upon them as at any later period. Hence, in taking 



16 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

such additional steps as are required by this chapter, 
we are compelled to feel our way as amid gloom. 
The leading thought relates to the hypothesis that 
there are historic or linguistic connections between 
the Aryan and other great families of language. 

In the southwestern portions of Asia and in some 
of the adjacent parts of Africa is found a distinctly 
marked group of languages, whose characteristics 
are such as manifestly separate them from the Aryan 
family. This group has been called the Syro^ 
Arabian family, but as this term does not include 
the Hebrew, the designation is felt to be too re- 
stricted ; hence the word now usually employed is 
Semitic, This name has been adopted because this 
speech is supposed to have originated in the family 
of Shem. It appears to have been native in Pal- 
estine, Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, 
and Arabia. In very early times, how^ever, it 
spread from Arabia over Ethiopia, throughout the 
Phoenician colonies, over many of the Mediterranean 
islands, and the whole of the Carthaginian coast. 
The three chief descendants are the Arabic, the 
Syriac, and the Hebrew. 

The peculiarities of this speech, the simplicity 
of its structure, the comparative absence of com- 
pounds in the noun and verb, the restriction to two 
genders and to two tense forms, its word-stems con- 
sisting almost exclusively of three consonants, its 
numerous gutturals, with the three primary vowel 
sounds, clearly separate it far from the Aryan. 
Such is the Semitic tongue.-^^ 



HISTORY OF SPEECH. 17 

The requirements of the discussion will be met 
by making a single additional grouping of certain 
tongues which cannot be classed with either the 
Aryan or Semitic families. Canon Farrar sug- 
gests the term Sporadic as the most appropriate, 
since it can include all languages not belonging to 
either the Aryan or Semitic families. Professor 
Whitney prefers Agglutinative; while others have 
employed the word Allophylian^ i. e., *' spoken by 
other different tribes of the human family." 

This group of tongues is found, first and last, to 
have ranged from Norway almost to Behrings 
Straits ; it has occupied the larger part of Central 
Asia, and established footholds in southern Asia and 
in southern Europe ; it is the speech of China, of 
Farther India, of the numberless islands scattered 
over the Pacific and Indian oceans, of the territories 
about and below the African equator, and of the 
native Americans from the Arctic to the Antarctic 
seas. 

The mind of the linguist is well-nigh bev^ildereci 
in trying to bring anything like a distinct classifica- 
tion out of the speech of these multitudes of scat- 
tered races and tribes. At first glance they present, 
seemingly, " a vast seething mass of imperfectly 
known jargon." Still, it is admitted that there are 
shades of similarity as to general structure 'and as 
to certain connections and affiliations, though often 
remote, that fairly allow of a general grouping, 
which may become more definite and satisfactory 
as linguistic knowledge increases. It is possible 



18 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

also that further investigation may succeed in tracing 
some of these scattered tongues back to the Aryan 
or to the Semitic stocks, or back to the roots of some 
primitive tongue not yet designated. At the present 
state of our knowledge it is hardly safe to do more 
than to group the Allophylian tongues into three 
classes, whose names suggest their marked peculi- 
arities, namely, the Monosyllabic, the Agglutinating, 
and the Incorporating.^ 

We are thus led to the question of a supposed 
ancient alliance of these different families of speech. 

It must be confessed at the outset that unless ex- 
isting differences can be explained, in part at least, 
then such remote affiliation is extremely questiona 
ble. The study of speech-lore shows, however, that 
marked changes have taken place in all languages. 
*' Transmutation of species in the kingdom of speech 
is no hypothesis, but a patent fact," and is the most 
recent postulate of linguistic science. 

The facts with regard to the tongues of uncivilized 
peoples — those, for instance, of the Melanesian, the 
African, and the native American — are, that books 
of instruction prepared by missionaries have become, 
in three or four generations, not only antiquated, but 
almost unintelligible. Even civilized peoples have 
not been able to fortify national speech against change • 
and corruption. The dead languages furnish strik- 
ing evidence. The ancient speech of Egypt, for 
illustration, commenced its changes among the illit- 
erate masses. The priests, for sacred purposes, and 
the cultivated because it was aristocratic and fash- 



HISTORY OF SPEECH, 19 

ionable, mutually clung to the earlier speech, while 
the masses, with their less conservative instincts and 
strong revolutionary impulses, drifted from it ; the 
speech of the priesthood and the educated was forced 
to yield, and after a time was no longer heard in 
street or senate. The same essentially is true of the 
Zend, the Sanskrit, and the classical Greek. In the 
time of Cicero the tongues which are now the vehi- 
cles of the world's highest culture were called bar- 
barian. 

The rapidity with which linguistic changes among 
the civilized have taken place is surprising. At the 
time of Rome's grandest achievements, national 
songs, supposed to be about five hundred years old, 
were not intelligible even to those w^ho were accus- 
tomed to sing them. The English of the eleventh 
would fail to answer the demands of the nineteenth 
century. There have been such changes, even within 
a hundred years, in the English vocabulary, that a 
person of a century ago, could he return, would be 
obliged to ask the meaning of many a word in every- 
day use.^^ Except for the anchorage found in our 
standard literature, especially in the Bible and Shaks- 
peare, and in the newspaper, in railway and tele- 
graphic communications, and in our centralized form 
of government, there w^ould grow up, after a time, 
in the widely separated sections of our country, dia- 
lects difficult to be understood, if, indeed, they could 
be understood at all, by the people of other sec- 
tions. The Babel of tongues brought yearly to our 



20 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

Bhores might end in confusion of speech like that of 
Melanesia or Africa.^* 

Following this line of thought a step further, the 
discovery will be made that many of the changes in 
speech take place in consequence of various easily 
defined causes. For instance, differences of climate 
and of natural scenery, in a word, differences in the 
various objects of perception, whatever they are, 
result in differences of speech, especially as to the 
words used. Words arise to meet the wants of the 
time ; they disappear when no longer needed. Es- 
trays and catch-words often come without announce- 
ment, answer their purpose, and then go without a 
farewell.^^ Therefore, whenever a part of a great 
family migrates to new places, it may be safely stated 
that the original vocabulary wmU be modified in 
nearly exact proportion to the change of scenes and 
circumstances. The migrating part of the family 
would both drop certain words for which they had 
no further use, and coin new ones to meet the emer- 
gencies of the changed surroundings. 

Suppose, for illustration, that Dr. Franklin and 
his crew are now castaways upon some island in the 
North Pole Sea ; that they are left w^ithout a litera- 
ture, and are to have in the future no means of com- 
municating with the outer w^orld. It would be 
mevitable that marked and radical changes in the 
vocabulary of their descendants two hundred years 
hence would result. More than this : a change in 
the objects of perception produces a change in hu- 



HISTORY OF SPEECH. 21 

man emotions ; these affect character. The geo* 
graphical identity of the wheat-growing and the 
civilized belts round the world is suggestive. But a 
radical change of character always results in radical 
word-changes. 

'' Thy speech bewrayeth thee," can be said of 
«very man. If, therefore, a part of a migrating 
family should become more civilized in Its new 
home, and the other part should become more sav- 
age than their ancestors, the differences between 
them would begin immediately to be seen in the 
words spoken. " Words,'* as the Chinese proverb 
expresses the idea, " are the sounds of the heart." 
As hearts differ, so must the sounds from them differ. 

'' One must not," writes William von Humboldt, 
'* consider a language as a product dead and formed 
but once : it is an animate being and ever creative. 
Human thought elaborates itself with the progress of 
intelligence ; and of this thought language is a mani- 
festation. An idiom cannot, therefore, remain sta- 
tionary. It walks, it develops, it grows up, it fortifies 
itself, it becomes old, and it reaches decrepitude." 

It would result, therefore, that there would be 
words in use among each class of those emigrants that 
could not be understood by the ones w4io remained 
in the fatherland ; nor, after a time, could the civilized 
and the savage emigrants, though born in the same 
household, understand one another. 

Causes still more simple, such, for instance, as 
result from the use of synon3^mous terms, are suffi- 
c'ent to produce radical w^ord changes. Borrowing 



22 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

an illustration, we find that " for horse we have also 
the almost equivalent names steed ^ ^^g't courser^ 
racer^ and further, for the different kinds and condi- 
tions of the same animal, the names stallion^ mare^ 
geldings Jilly^ colt^ pony^ and others, — and in the 
breaking up of the language into dialects, one of 
these synonymous appellations is liable to become 
the prevailing one in one dialect, another in another, 
to the neglect and loss of all but the one selected." 

Differences between tongues of the same general 
family likewise arise from different methods of in- 
creasing their vocabularies. The German enlarges 
his list of words by developing from hereditary re- 
sources ; the Englishman inclines to neglect the 
immense undeveloped resources of his tongue, and 
receives accretions without stint from all others.^^ 

Different methods of inflection, too, work marvel- 
lous changes in speech forms. The Chinese tongue 
has no inflections proper, the English few, the Scy- 
thian and South African many. The Finnish has 
fifteen cases for the noun, and the Hungarian twenty. 
If, therefore, languages sprung from the same primi- 
tive source, a verbal root common to all the families^ 
owing to modifications of inflection, would seem, 
after a few generations, foreign to all save one oi 
two families. 

But the act of speaking different words brings into 
play and develops different muscles of the vocal or- 
gans. This, after a generation or two, would greatly 
modify the general method of pronouncing all words 



HISTORY OF SPEECH. 23 

belonging to that tongue which for any reason had 
changed its vocabulary. 

Furthermore, the vocal organs are said to be so 
delicate as to be affected by climate. It is a com- 
mon remark that the mellifluous sounds of the Ital- 
ian are like everything surrounding him, while the 
harsh and passionate blasts of rage and sarcasm of 
the northern hordes are Hke the roar and whistle 
of December winds. Hence the more primitive 
Greek tongue, transplanted to the enervating cli- 
mate of Asia Minor, became the soft Ionian. We 
may thus account in part for the difference heard in 
the deep gutturals of the Arab, the hissing and lisp- 
ing sounds of the Englishman, the nasality of the 
Frenchman and Portuguese, and the pure tones of the 
Italian. Each nationality, after a few generations, 
finds that it has no vocal muscles at command with 
which to pronounce the marked characteristics of 
the speech of others. This inability comes simply 
from the vocal fixedness of life-long habits. 

The form and sound of words are modified in 
process of time by a still simpler consideration, 
namely, the manner of accenting them. The Ger- 
man distributes his accent, the Frenchman throws it 
upon final syllables, while the English tendency is 
to accent some leading syllable. A given word, 
under this influence of accent, will in time sufler such 
changes that only a linguist can recognize and restore 
it. But pronunciation in turn modifies the spelling 
of words. The silent letters retained in written 



24 THE AR2' OF SPEECH, 

languages are relics indicating former modes of pro- 
nunciation. 

The redaction of a language to writing works still 
further modifications. 

In view of these facts, we may safely conclude 
that diversity as to surroundings, changes of charac- 
ter, and the lapse of time, are sufficient to account 
for some of the most marked and radical differences 
observable in human speech. This conclusion gives 
us full liberty to adopt, upon scientific grounds, the 
working hypothesis that from one primitive stock 
all existing and historic tongues have had their 
origin. 

There is no possible question that all tongues be- 
longing to the Aryan family are from one source. 
Tradition, history, and linguistic structure have 
placed the fact beyond controversy.^^ The same 
can be said of the mutual relations existing be- 
tween the different tongues belonging to the Semitic 
family. Its principal branches, the Hebrew, the 
Syriac, and the Arabic, are as closely linked as are 
the German, Dutch, and Swedish, of the Aryan 
family. 

Extending the grouping so as to cover both the 
Ar3an and Semitic families, the evidence is confessed 
to be absolutely conclusive neither for nor against 
their ancient alliance. Still, Hebrew tradition and 
a multitude of concuirent probabilities point to 
nearly the same original home for each. That the 
Aryan race sprang from Bactriana, and the Semitic 
from the contiguous parts of Armenia, are facts 



HISTORY OF SPEECH. 25 

which more than hint the probability of a common 
hearthstone for both. 

Nor should we overlook certain structural corre- 
spondences existing between these two families. 
The change of meaning in a given word by a change 
of vov/els, weaving the consonants unchanged, is a 
special characteristic of the Semitic family ; but this 
usage is likewise found in the Aryan family. The 
consonantal root g'-t-l (Arabic), becomes gatala^ 
he killed ; gutila^ he was killed ; gatl^ murder ; gitl^ 
murderer, &c. Thus, likewise, the consonantal root 
s-n-g^ in our tongue, becomes sing^ sang^ song^ 
sung^ &c. 

Moreover, these languages are inflectional. They 
each have prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. The Se- 
mitic verb has the same three numbers — singu- 
lar, dual, and plural, and the same persons — first, 
second, and third, as are found in the Aryan. In 
view of these resemblances, notwithstanding the 
marked differences, we are safe in saying that, all 
things considered, there are '' grounds," as Professor 
Whitney cautiously puts the case, '' for suspecting 
an ultimate relationship between the Semitic and 
Aryan families." 

The Allophylian group, owing to its extreme va- 
riations, most obstinately defies subjection to the 
hypothesis of a common origin. But, on the other 
hand, its distinctive characteristics can the most 
easily be accounted for. These tongues are for the 
greater part uncivilized ; they are therefore, as al- 
ready noted, subject to the most rapid and marked 



26 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

changes.^® There are strong evidences, nevertheless, 
that they have an honorable ancestry. It is the 
judgment of such linguists as Du Ponceau, Charle- 
voix, Appleyard, Threlkeld, Caldwell, and Dr. 
James, that many of the Allophylian family of lan- 
guages have such richness of expression, and are so 
perfect and artistic in structure, that they could not 
possibly have been wrought into their present condi- 
tion by the people now speaking them. Scholars 
conclude, therefore, that these peoples must have 
sprung from an ancestry who, in character and cul- 
ture, are not now correctly represented by their de- 
scendants : it has been, strictly speaking, a descent. 
The possible longer separation of the Allophylian 
family from their primitive home, the varieties of 
country and climate in which they have lived, and 
the consequent modifications of character, together 
with many trivial causes whose resultants in process 
of time are often vast, also certain possible and prov- 
idential interferences, are claimed to be grounds suf- 
ficient to account for the diflferences existing in 
human speech. It is possible, therefore, had the 
members of the Aryan family passed through the 
same vicissitudes as those of the Allophylian, that 
there might have been as total an effacement of sat- 
isfactory proofs of a common origin. 

The impression ought not to be left, however, that 
the evidence of a universal affiliation of speech is 
exclusively hypothetical. Nearly all modern lin- 
guists support the statement of the great Humboldt, 
that, " however insulated certain languages may at 



HISTORY OF SPEECH, 27 

first appear, however singular their caprices and their 
idioms, all have an analogy among them, and their 
numerous relations will be more perceived in pro- 
portion as the philosophical history of nations and 
the study of languages shall be brought to perfec- 
tion." 

Leading naturalists the world over now incline to 
the opinion that all differences among existing hu- 
man races have resulted from variations from some 
common original type. But this physiological affin- 
ity points to a primitive philological unity. " The 
further we go back into the night of the past," says 
a scholar profoundly versed in these studies, " the 
greater is the probability that the limits of the race 
and speech approximately coincide, and that mixture 
of either is accom.panied by that of the other." 

Evidence, likewise, is constantly increasing that all 
the different families of speech have a monosyllabic 
ancestry. Professor Whitney finds ample data to 
Justify the statement that " the Indo-European lan- 
guage, with all its fulness and inflective supple- 
ness, is descended from an original monosyllabic 
tongue." ^^ 

Again, in common with the Aryan and Semitic 
families, all the members of the AUophylian group 
have three classes of roots — exclamatory, verbal, and 
substantive. So, likewise, the agglutinating struc- 
ture, by which unaltered roots and words are placed 
side by side to form words of new meaning, especially 
characteristic of the agglutinating languages of the 



28 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Allophylian family, is nevertheless a feature common 
to all other tongues.^ 

The fact that words from tongues seemingly the 
most widely separated can be easily incorporated 
into one another, suggests at once the idea of past 
affiliation ; as, likewise, does the additional fact that 
certain roots bearing striking resemblances to one 
another are found running through tongues the most 
dissimilar.-^ 

Such, then, are the leading facts upon which rests 
the evidence that all tongues, though having wan- 
dered so far from the common source as to lose much 
of the positive proof desired, had, nevertheless, a 
primitive identity. 



Note 





^TP. TBET?. 



NOTK XXri. (Page 28.) 



\^ 



\ 







THE SUPPOSED PRIMITIVE LINGUISTIC TREE. 



THEORIES, 29 



CHAPTER II. 
Theories of the Origin of Speech. 

From the facts of history, from existing phenom- 
ena, and reasonable conjecture, have risen several 
divergent theories as to the origin of speech. Each 
theory, as might be expected, is tinged with the sys- 
tem of philosophy held by the person propounding 
it. The materialistic evolutionist of extreme views 
assorts that a race of articulate men, being developed 
from races of inarticulate creatures, built up from 
brute-sounds, such as the neigh of a horse or the bark 
of a dog, existing human speech. This supposition, 
however, meets with the serious objection that it lacks 
the support of well-established facts. No dog or 
horse has ever been known to develop into a man. 
It is still further opposed by the suggestive fact that 
primitive tongues clearly show a descent^ but in no 
case a radical ascent. It furthermore antagonizes 
Scripture history, which, while it stands uncontra- 
dicted by other history, must be admitted as evi- 
dence. 

A second theory is, that a race of articulate beings, 
who were created at one time but In different locali- 
ties, developed in those different localities, either 
from Interjectional or onomatopoetic roots, the dif- 
ferent historic and existing tonsfues. This view 



30 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

would be held by Professor Agassiz and his school. 
Upon the ground of physical science, it has some 
weight, but is in conflict with an increasingly large 
number of facts which point to the strict unity of 
the human race. Like the first theory, this is opposed 
to sacred history. 

The third view is, that a race of fallen beings de- 
scended from a representative head ; that the federal 
head, being from the start a perfect type of created hu- 
manity, was in some way endowed with every qualifi- 
cation essential to life ; that he had at command either 
a perfect speech, or else readily developed it as oc- 
casion required ; that his descendants adopted this 
speech, which subsequently, by some strange mod- 
ification of the vocal organs, was violently disturbed. 

This view is not opposed either by physical or 
linguistic science ; and it has the support of sacred 
history. 

Respecting the way through which the original 
perfect man or men came into possession of, or de- 
veloped speech, the following theories have been 
presented ; 

The first, a wide-spread view, termed the super- 
natural, contends that human language is God-given. 
This was the reigning belief throughout Grecian 
antiquity, also among the Jews and early Christians. 
The fundamental idea held by the philosophers was 
that there is an ordained connection between words 
and objects, so that man, under divine guidance, in 
the infancy of the race, without hesitation hit upon 
correct symbols.^^ 



THEORIES. 31 

The second hypothesis regards speech as a '• con- 
ventional institution/' therefore, a human invention. 
Tiie more specific processes of this invention are 
matters now in controversy. 

A quite popular hypothesis, called the onomato- 
poetic, is, that the earliest names of objects and ac- 
tions were produced by imitation, as the child calls 
the cow the moo^ and the dog the bow-wow. This 
view, in various modified forms, is advocated by a 
large number of eminent linguists. It is contro- 
verted, however, by Professor Max Miiller, who 
characterizes it as the bow-wow theory. 

Another hypothesis, termed the interjectional, 
maintains that primitive speech consisted of the 
natural sounds which are uttered in moments of 
excitement, such as oh I ah I f shawl This is char- 
acterized by Professor Mtiller as the pooh-pooh 
theory. 

Such scholars as Professors Heyse and Mtiller 
advocate what may be denominated the responsive 
theory. They claim that in the infancy of the race 
men could not originate speech nor determine be- 
forehand its structure, but would produce it as a bell 
produces sound when struck. '' There is a law 
which runs through nearly the whole of nature," 
says Mtiller, as quoted by Whitney, " that every- 
thing which is struck rings. Each substance has 
its peculiar ring. ... It was the same with man, the 
most highly organized of / Uure's works." "Man 
possessed an instinctive faculty for giving articulate 
expression to the rational conceptions of his mind. 



32 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

But this creative faculty, which gave to each con- 
ception, as it thrilled for the first time through the 
brain, a phonetic expression, became extinct v^hen 
its object was fulfilled." By the advocates of the 
onomatopoetic and interjectional theories this hy- 
pothesis of Mtiller is denominated, in turn, the 
ding-dong theory. 

It will appear, upon a moment's reflection, that 
there are reasons for adopting either of these views 
sufficient to forbid the foregoing verbal carica- 
tures. For instance : that language is a divine gift 
has been held by too many intelligent men, upon 
evidence far too weighty, to be thrust aside as a 
religious whim. The Providence that has adjusted 
its provisions to the needs of man, furnishing soil, 
fuel, oil, and the various minerals and vegetables, to 
meet his physical wants, and religion to meet the 
spiritual demands of his nature, may reasonably be 
expected to provide, at the outset, suitable means of 
communication for intelligent beings. 

Likewise, that speech is in part invented or in- 
creased through sound-imitation, ought not to be 
questioned. The watch, to children of different 
nationalities, is the tick-tick. Thus also the natural 
interjection ah\ or achl gives the root (^yo'i (Greek), 
aka (Sanskrit), acan (Anglo-Saxon), and our achc^ 
from which come anxious., anguish., and ago7zy!^^ 

That speech is still further developed, or modified, 
through other suggestive resemblances, or associa- 
tions, is abundantly established. Such proper names 
as Flying-Cloud, Sitting-Bull, &c., are said to be 



THEORIES. 83 

suggested by some object seen by the mother at the 
birth of the child. Several tribes on the coast of New 
Guinea give names to their children in imitation of 
the first sound the child utters.^ 

That there are intimate and wonderful connections 
between thcught and speech is another indisputable 
fact. Mtiller is somewhat extreme, claiming that 
the connection is '' absolutely vital and necessary." 
Schlegel likewise regai:4%rtefi§tiftgg^^' as given to 
man by superior catfrtnitnicatian PbVt cds^siders the 
mind of man so to have been organized a^- necessa- 
rily to produce, on his;ifir&t^p^iqyi^|ice, ^is well-^ 
ordered and beautiful ""sti'ucture, and thereby sup- 
poses its oneness and indivisibility." ; Dr. Bleek, 
Schleicher, and SteiatJial hold substantially the same 
opinion. " Thought and speech," says Vinet, " are 
inseparable." '' Thought is an interior speech, and 
in the ancient languages the same word, log'os^ sig- 
nified the two things." 

Professor Whitney argues, however, that this con- 
nection is not, strictly speaking, necessary, but nat- 
ural. 

That the word- making propensity is natural there 
can be no question. It is, doubtless, as natural for 
man to make words when needed, as for the horse 
to neigh or the dog to bark. Man, probably, con- 
structs words into sentences as instinctively as the 
bee builds its comb or the beaver its dam. But 
thus to admit that language-making is natural, is 
not to deny that it is necessary. That it is both was 
the view maintained by Pythagoras, who attributed 



84 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

speech to " the instincts of nature sharpened by the 
spur of necessity." 

Now, casting the eye for a moment over the entire 
field, bringing together all the data gleaned from 
the foregoing historic review, also from the different 
and conflicting opinions cited, and from certain other 
correlated and established matters not yet introduced 
into this discussion, we reach, as among the more 
probable, the following inferences : — Human speech 
is both God-given and from human invention. The 
first man of the race was created with a com- 
plete physical organism and with powers of speech 
sufficiently perfect to answer all the requirements 
originally laid upon him. This primitive speech 
sprang from an internal impulse, but was voli- 
tional. The connection between speech and thought 
was therefore natural, and in a ^ense necessary. 
This original tongue, with which the first man 
was endowed, was bequeathed to his descendants, 
and was the only speech known on earth until 
within a few thousand years. Time enough has 
elapsed since the dawn of history to account for 
the differences found in Aryan speech, but not 
enough to account for the differences existing be- 
tween the Aryan and either the Semitic or the Allo- 
phylian tongues. It follows, therefore, that resort 
must be had to a wholesale rejection, or reconstruc- 
tion, of the generally received chronology, or else 
there must be found some direct agency which, in 
comparatively recent times, has wrought sudden 
and radical changes in human speech. In the only 



THEORIES, 85 

history extant upon this subject is the record of an 
event which answers all the conditions demanded 
by the facts in the case. It took place within a few 
thousand years, it was sudden and violent, shattering 
liuman speech through a modification of the vocal 
organs. The record, under strict translation, reads 
thus (Gen. xi. 1-9) : 

" And the whole land was of one lip, and one 
stock of words. And it came to pass, as they jour- 
neyed eastward, that they found a plain in the land 
of Shinar ; and they dwelt there. And they said to 
one another. Go to, let us make brick and burn them 
thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and as- 
phalt had they for mortar. 

"And they said. Go to, let us build us a city, and 
a tower whose top may be in the sky, and let us 
make us a name ; lest we be scattered abroad on the 
face of the whole land. And the Lord came down 
to see the city and the tower which the sons of man 
had builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the peo- 
ple is one, and they have all one lip, and this they 
have begun to do ; and now nothing will be restrained 
from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, 
let us go down, and there confound their lip, that 
they may not understand one another's lip. 

'' And the Lord scattered them abroad thence upon 
the face of all the land ; and they left off to build 
the city. Therefore was the name of it called Babel, 
because the Lord had there confounded the lip of all 
the land ; and thence had the Lord scattered them 
abroad upon the face of all the land." 



THE ART OF SPEECH. 



CHAPTER III. 

Laws of Speech. 

Speech, under a superficial review, seems erratic 
and lawless. Usage appears to be the only law ; 
but usage is extremely fluctuating. If, however, 
speech is a divine gift, or a natural and necessary 
provision made for the human race, — and that it is 
one or the other there can be no question, — then it 
ought to be subject to the same laws as apply to 
other divine gifts, or to other natural and necessary 
provisions made for the race; in a word, speech 
ought to be governed by the same laws essentially 
as are found in force throughout the various domains 
of matter and mind. Upon the strength of such 
strong antecedent probabilities we may formulate a 
linguistic code of laws. 

/. Law of Symbolization, 
This law rests upon the principle that language 
is a symbol of thought ; that words and sentences, 
as symbols, are originally chosen, not arbitrarily, 
but from some real or supposed connection or re- 
semblance which they bear to the objects named. 
The important part played by this law in the forma- 



LAWS OF SPEECH. 87 

rion of English speech, aheady hinted, may be still 
further seen in the use of such imitative words as 
splashy bang"^ ivhiz^ roar^ hiss^ and tick-tick. 

Dr. Wilson enumerates the following words di- 
rectly derived from so-termed " imitative dog-lan- 
guage " : bark.^ ^^^5 howl., S7zap,, snarly whine^ and 
whimper. 

Names given by children (see p. 32), also the ap- 
plication of original imitative words to objects which 
have, or are supposed to have, some resemblance to 
those objects, as when the barnyard fowl is called the 
•' cock-a-doodle-doo^^ from which come the cock of 
a gun., to cock 07ze's eye or head., cocked hat., cock- 
ade., coquette^ are illustrations of the working of this 
law of Symbolization. 

The formation of new words from existing roots, 
such as side-saddle., butter-cup., break-fast., hearth- 
stone^ blood-money., foot-sore., and toil-worn., dis- 
closes this symbolizing propensity. 

The same is true also of the metaphorical nature 
of language. " The etymologist," says Emerson, 
•' finds the deadest word to have been once a bril- 
liant picture." Examine the following words : appli- 
cation., understand., off-hand., news,, blackguard, 
-plagiarize., sarcastic, stigmatize., astonish., incul- 
cate., respectable., scruple., sincere., calarnity., cemc- 
tery.^ 

This law finds still further illustration in the ten- 
dency of language to symbolize the past. Language 
is fossil history. This is true of the general history 
of the race. Linguistic science is fast supplying 



^S THE ART OF SPEECH, 

missing historic links. The words employed in re* 
mote antiquity are telling us more of the character 
and condition of the people than Herodotus ever 
dreamed. 

The Indo-European family, through its word-his- 
tory, is found in its earliest stages to have had its 
domestic circle ; the words wife^ mother^ food^ 
cooked^ and table-spread^ quietly lift the clouds from 
the past. 

Such expressions as to yew one^ to catch a Tar- 
tar^ laco7tic^ heathen^ Celt^ sterlings dunce^ Essex. 
Middlesex^ &c., also disclose in a striking manner 
national characteristics and surroundings. The fol- 
lowing words, relating to ancient social polity : paper ^ 
library^ diadem^ robe^ toilet^ candidate^ Jinance^ 
pecuniary^ salary^ curfew^ housewife^ sig7zing 
the name ; also the following, which relate to early 
science : electricity^ furlongs calculus^ consider^ 
disastrous ; likewise the following, which bear upon 
religious history : hermetic^ volcano^ martial^ jovial^ 
vocation^ devotio7i^ plague^ zounds^ Monday^ Tues- 
day^ Wednesday^ &c., are packed with historic im- 
port.2^ 

The surnames of our English ancestry constitute 
a sort of family coat of arms. Individual history, 
even, is wrapped up in speech ; it betrays the hearth- 
stone at which the man lived or played.^^ 

Not only are words selected, but sentences aie 
often framed in obedience to the different require- 
ments of this law. Thus, " The spray was hissing 
hot," is symbolic of the sound represented. The true 



LA WS OF SPEECH, 39 

poet, possessed of musical sensibility, and having at 
command the utmost resources of speech, is the best 
able to render faithful obedience to this law of sym- 
bolization.^ 

The words invented and the sentences framed by 
the common people clearly show that they too live 
and speak under the reign of this law. '' What is 
that?" was asked of a bare-footed rustic girl car- 
rying a pail of water with a board over it. *' That," 
she replied, pointing to the board, " that is a stiller." 

It follows that if this law were supreme, the best 
naming would be where, at first thought, the object 
and the verbal symbol representing it, the most 
closely resemble or suggest one another. 

The practical importance of this law ought not 
to be overlooked by the English-speaking student. 
Obedience to it, while inventing or forming words 
and while constructing sentences, will always be re- 
garded as a rare and desirable accomplishment. 

II. law of Develop??ient, 
Close observation shows that there are forces which 
control all healthy organic growths and all men- 
tal and spiritual developments The term evolution 
is now generally employed, in both physics and 
metaphysics, and in social and political life, to desig- 
late these potent and developing agencies. 

It should be torne in mind that this word, evolu- 
tion, according to the theist represents forces and 
processes under Supernatural direction ; but accord- 
ing to the atheist, those which are under natural di- 



to THE ART OF SPEECH. 

rection or selection. As would be expected, speech 
also is subjected to the reign of this law. Etymo- 
logically, speech is an evolution from verbal sounds. 
Fundamentally, speech is evolution from thought, 
through inspiration, instinct, or invention. One of 
the most pronounced statements in the metaphysics of 
rhetoric is, that as soon as an idea comes distinctly be- 
fore the mental vision, the mother-tongue contributes 
for it an appropriate verbal expression. Knowledge, 
even in its most daring advances, is found to be 
never more than a step in advance of language. Out 
of the genius of the human mind and tongue, either 
through composition, derivation, or inflection, new 
words spring into being to answer the emergencies 
of times and circumstances. Hence follows the 
linguistic maxim, that in language popular need is in- 
exorable and popular ingenuity is inexhaustible. The 
historic account that Adam saw, then named the 
animals brought to him, is, therefore, a strictly correct 
philosophical representation.^ 

Since, therefore, every tongue has existmg sym- 
bols or latent capacities to perfectly represent all 
clearly-defined mental conceptions, and since the law 
of development has such strong and universal claims, 
it follows that changes in the structure of language, 
and additions to its vocabulary, should be made 
chiefly by development rather than by accretion. A 
limited number of immigrants may be beneficial to na- 
tions and to languages ; but too many are harmful. 

It is fortunate, therefore, that the English tongue, 
owing to certain natural properties, easily allows the 



LAWS OF SPEECH. 41 

enforcement of the law of development. In its word- 
resources, for instance, it has wealth of materials 
not yet tested. The writings of King Alfred, the 
early Saxon chronicles, the works of Chaucer, of 
John Mandeville, William Caxton, and Edmund 
Spenser, reveal a vast amount of unused native 
word-lore. 

The power and facility with which English speech 
can make new words by compounding existing ones, 
also allow the operation of the law of development. 
See note xxx. 

The same is true as to the ease with which one 
part of speech is converted into another. Nouns, 
with scarcely an effort, become verbs : '' when the 
first sin volcanoes ; " " to voice a sentiment ; " " please 
spoon my coffee ; *' " to hound one ; " '' when the birds 
do nest ; " '''* shingle the head ; " " man a ship ; " ^^arm 
a fortress ; " " bridle the passions ; " *' to bottom the 
ship," &c. Nouns, also, are easily converted into 
participles : larking^ gadding., snaking., &c. ; and 
participles into nouns : " the barking of dogs," 
" the bleating of sheep," &c. 

Again, the English, aside from its irregularities, 
is one of the simplest tongues ; but simplicity in ele- 
ments and structure is a quality from which develop- 
ment is natural and easy. 

It is true consequently that he who, though illiter- 
ate, can speak the English tongue, is able to coin freely 
and correctly idiomatic words and phrases. 

Granting all that may be said in praise of " the 
sonorous music and magnificence " that have been 



42 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

added to the English tongue from Latin sources, 
still the overdoing must be rigorously guarded 
against. To take on much additional foreign mat- 
ter is unwise and unsafe. The aliens of speecli 
henceforth should come late and without too hearty 
welcome, and go early without regret. 

It may in this connection be stated as a linguistic 
maxim, that when the generative energy of a tongue 
is allowed to remain dormant, while in modifying 
its structure or enlarging its vocabulary resort is had 
to foreign tongues, then decay begins. 

The practical suggestion deducible from the fore 
going considerations is, that restoration and retention 
of native words and idiomatic constructions, united 
with future restriction of immigration, are demanded 
for the preservation of the English tongue. 

Such words as ultimo^ insia^zter^ proximo^ ani- 
mus^ cultus^ onus., magnu7n opus^ status., curricu- 
lum^ ultimatufn., maxifnum., fninimutn.^ &c., should 
be given, therefore, a wide berth by every one who 
respects and loves his mother-speech. 

Borrowed fineries, seen in such words as distingue., 
blase., a marveille., beau monde.^ coup d^ceil^^ demi- 
monde., haut ton., coiffee a ravir^ debutante., &c., 
betray a taste extremely affected and sickly. It is 
linguistic barbarism to present an English-speaking 
people, at a public dinner, with a bill of fare from 
which one is forced to read Huitres au naturel for 
oysters. Casseroles a la Pompadour for soup, and 
Poisson de meriox codfish, and Fromage for cheese. 

" The English language," as has been well re- 



LAWS OF SPEECH, 43 

marked, " is too good and too venerable to be traded 

off for the jargon of the French." Let the Rip Van 

Winkles of our tongue speak ; they will tell us much 

of great value of which these foreigners give no 

intimation. 

///. Law of Definiteness. 

Physical science reports that in the development 
of the material universe homogeneousness has given 
place to heterogeneousness. Social science reports 
the necessity of division of labor. In the revelations 
of theological science the manifest Divine Unity of 
the Old Testament becomes the equally manifest 
Trinity of the New. 

These facts are sufficient to justify the claim that 
there is an evident law in the universe which in 
general may be stated thus : During the processes 
of development and improvement there is increasing 
definiteness, but during decay increasing indefi- 
niteness. 

In rhetorical science the law is, that in proportion 
to mental enlightenment and mastery of speech, there 
is increasing definiteness of expression. 

The pi'actical suggestion to the English-speaking 
public is, that the excellences of our tongue must be 
preserved by obedience to the law of Development. 
Speech must be so ordered that an expression of ideas 
shall give the person addressed the least possible 
conscious mental effort in order to understand. This 
law, therefore, when something which can be de- 
finitely expressed is meant, forbids the use of such 
omnibus terms as " thing," "good," and the like. 



44 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

It also forbids tne displacement of familiar words 
when the only reason is false delicacy. Com2>are 
enceinte^ accouchement^ and delicate situation^ with 
the English of Is. xl. ii ; Matt. xxiv. 19. Be cour- 
teous, modest, and precise in the use of all such 
terms ; be not over-modest. 

It likewise forbids such displacement when the 
only reason is a kind of deference towards existing 
crimes and immoralities. As when assisted (Ital- 
ian) is used for murdered ; love-child (French), for 
bastard ; sample-room (American), for groggery or 
rum-hole ; kleptomania^ for stealing. Be pure in 
speech ; but be honest. 

This law requires the speaker carefully to distin- 
guish between words which are sometimes used 
synonymously. As culture advances, languages tend 
to make all synonyms merely approximate. Atten- 
tion is called to the following verbs, which by all 
scholars should be distinguished from one another : 
admire ?ind like ; allude todindmention ; christen ^nd 
baptize ; carry and brings donate and give ; felici- 
tate and co7zgraiulate ; feel and desire ; grow and 
become ; inter and bury ; learn and teach ; love and 
like ; observe and say ; partake of and eat ; present 
and introduce ; purpose and propose ; reiiiit and 
send\ reckon^ gjiess^ calculate^ and think; retire 
2iXid go to bed\ settle and pay ; sit and set ; trans- 
fire and take place ; turning and pouring ; wit- 
ness and see. Especial attention is called to the 
helping verbs. (See p. 98.) 

Note also the following nouns : absurdity and 



LAWS OF SPEECH, 45 

nonsense ; animal and brute ; artist and artisan ; 
conversion^ regeneration^ consecration^ sanctijica- 
tion^ and perfection ; tf^^^ and pulpit ; female and 
woman ; /i^^^ 2ind faith ; invention and discovery ; 
interference and intervention ; railroad station 
and depot ; relation^ connection^ and kinsman ; ^//^ 
and pew ; a spell and season ; T^^r^^ and stanza ; -rc^Z/i: 
and /icz^. 

Distinguish also between the following adjectives : 
contemptible and poor \ delicious and delightful \ 
deranged and insane ; the /<aJ5/ /ix^t? and the /^t;(9 /a^/ ; 
much and many ; serious^ religious^ and pious ; e^/- 
/^r, complete^ and perfect. 

The so-termed extravagant and indefinite adjectives, 
awfuU disagreeable^ horrid,^ mighty^ and splen- 
did^ together with other strong descriptive terms, are 
often so indefinitely and carelessly used as to waste 
their force and cultivate in the one who employs 
them the characteristic of untruthfulness. 

The following adverbs should be distinguished : 
^^ and ^^ ; as and /^'^^ ; bravely and w^// ; fc^ and 
fewer ; further and farther ; partially and partly. 

The following prepositions should not be used as 
synonyms : amidst and among \ beside and besides ; 
differ from and differ w^V^^ ; agree 'rc^//^ and agree 
/^ ; ^axtwith and part from; the bird flew c>;2 to^ 
into^ on^ and e*;? the tree ; of and off. 

The law of definiteness commands, furthermore, 
the use of specific rather than general language. 

The specific terms of the English tongue are An- 
glo-Saxon ; the general terms are foreign. Such 



it6 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

words as step^ v;alk^ run^ leap^ and ^y are Anglo- 
Saxon ; while the general term, motion^ covering all 
these, is Latin. Such words as cat^ dog., horse^ vian^ 
are Anglo-Saxon ; animal^ the general term, is Latin. 
Wagon, cart.^ and the like, are Anglo-Saxon ; vehi- 
cle is Latin. The impression produced by specific 
terms is far more vivid and lasting. 

The importance of this law justifies the further 
remark, that ability to obey it depends upon defi- 
niteness in thinking. Obscurity in speech is usually 
the outcome of obscurity in thought. 

It also depends upon having an easy command 
of words. This attainment is reached through an 
extensive course of reading, by making translations 
from one language into another, and by a constant 
reference to the dictionary. Daniel Webster, during 
a part of his life, was a patient student of the dic- 
tionary, learning three words daily, then seeking an 
early opportunity to use them. 

There should, in addition, be habitual attention 
to the words employed. 

IV, Law of Economy, 
Avoid loss and waste, is a command heard through* 
out the realms of matter and mind. Physical na- 
ture is extremely economic ; by her direction frag- 
ments are to be gathered up that nothing be lost. 
She often greatly changes the objects upon whicli 
she lays her hand ; she converts and reconverts, but 
annihilates nothing. Hence is inferred a law desig- 
nated by the word economy. It is not supreme, 



LAWS OF SPEECH. 47 

being often subject to other laws which, under cer- 
tain circumstances, are considered of greater im- 
portance. In the realms of speech this law is com- 
mon to the tongues of all civilized nations, and har- 
monizes with the principle that language is a servant. 
used not merely for its own sake, but for worthy 
purposes in expressing or conveying thoughts and 
emotions. It therefore requires the speaker to give 
with definiteness and elegance the largest number of 
ideas with the fewest and shortest words possible. 

The presence and working of this law are seen in 
the fact that, as civilization advances, shorter and 
fewer words are employed. It is an indisputable 
fact that, as soon as a nation or tribe takes its first 
step from barbarism towards civilization, the law of 
economy is in operation and continues thus as long 
as there is any visible progress.^^ 

This tendency is seen still further in the word- 
changes which take place in all those tongues that 
have been reduced to writing. " Letters," says 
Home Tooke, " like soldiers, are apt to desert and 
drop off in a long march." Compare with one 
another the following versions of Matt. vii. 27 : 

" And rayn came down, floodis camen, and wyndis 
blewen, and thei hurliden in to that hous, and it 
felle down, and the falling down thereof w-^s grete." 

IVycl/fe. 

" And abundance of rain descended, and the 
fluddes came, and the wyndes blewe and beet ujoon 
that house, and it fell, and great was the fall." — 

jynciale. 



48 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

"And the rain descended, and the floods came, 
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and 
it fell : and great was the fall of it." — Cominon 
English version. 

This same tendency is seen in the omission of syl- 
lables, as well as letters : almosine became almosie^ 
then almose^ then almes^ now alms. Straw^ rose^ 
gold^ silver^ and h7'ick formerly had the termination 
en. ^2^ was formerly buffle ; ifv^^^gifan ; month 
was mooneth ; stern was austeren. 

Modern English often reduces polysyllabic words 
taken from other languages to monosyllables. Preach 
from fredicare^ and vend from venumdare (Latin) ; 
blame from blasphemein (Greek) ; throng from 
thringan^ and blast from blaesan (Anglo-Saxon), 
are familiar illustrations. 

The omission of parts of compound words like- 
wise discloses the influence of this law. Aid has 
been reduced from aide-de-camp ; doff from to do 
off\ don from to do on; hand-work from hand ge 
weorc; lovely from love like^ and such from so like. 
Indeed, English speech has reduced nearly half its 
vocabulary to a monosyllabic form. 

This law has all the more weight because these 
economic processes in no way diminish the clear- 
ness and power of our mother-tongue. The mono- 
syllables of our language are filled with definite and 
mighty thoughts. They instinctively leap to the lips 
in the expression of earnestness and passion. The 
following are illustrations of the strength af mono- 
syllabic speech : 



LAWS OF SPEECH, 49 

*' That is a step 
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires, 
Let no light see my black and deep desire. 
The eye winks at my hand. Yet, let that be 
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.'* 

Macbeth^ Act i., Sc. \\. 
** Then Apollyon straddled quite over the whole breadth 
of the way. and said, I am void of fear in this matter; 
prepare thyself to die ; for I swear by my infernal Den that 
thou shalt go no further: here will I spill thy soul." 

Pilgrim'' s Progress. 
See also Matt. xiii. 3-10.^ 

It is a carefully studied thought of Professor Whit- 
ney, that " if English were strictly reduced to its 
words of one syllable, it would still contain an 
abundant repertory ©f developed parts of speech 
expressing every variety of idea, and illustrating a 
rich phonetic system." 

Advanced culture, while constructing sentences, 
still further shows its respect for this law by drop- 
ping all unnecessary words. The rustic English 
Westmorelaader, to the question, '' How far is it?" 
replies, '^ Why like it garl}^ nigh like to four miles 
hke." The conjugation of the southern slave dia- 
lect is, " I was done gone, you was done gone, he 
v/as done gone." 

'' Whereby I went to London, whereby I was 
robbed, whereby I found the man that robbed me," 
is the sailor's speech as quoted by De Qiiincey. 

The excessive and indefinite use of which ^ and 
which^ and the like, betrays either a lack of taste or 
of literary culture in the speaker.^ 
4* 5 



50 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Even words in former good use are now dropped 
in obedience to this law. Own^ in the phrase " my 
own self," "your own self," "his own self," is no 
longer used except for special emphasis. The 
phrases, " Help us (to) feel ; " " They are (both) 
alike ; " " Shut the door (to) ; " " To (be) let ; " 
" Please (to) bear in mind," no longer use the par- 
ticles parenthesized. The expressions, "John hzs 
hat," " the king his throne," in use two hundred 
years ago, and sanctioned even by Addison, are now 
looked upon as " monstrous syntax." 

The adjective, called the enemy of the noun, is 
often used by the inexperienced writer when it would 
be omitted by the thorough scholar. Compare, in 
this respect, the artificial and superficial writer with 
some noted men of letters. True culture seeks the 
greatest ends by the smallest means ; as the gods are 
said to hang the greatest weights upon the smallest 
wires. The correctness of the following quotation 
from Professor Shedd will not be questioned : 

*' The old and finished speaker always uses fewer and 
choicer words than the joung orator. The language of 
Webster during the last half of his public life was more se- 
lect and precise than it was previously. He emploj'ed fewer 
words to convey the same amount of meaning, by growing 
more nice, and careful in the rejection of those vague words 
which come thick and thronging when the mind is roused. 
Hence, the language he did use is full of meaning; as one 
said, 'every word weighs a pound/ " 

The verbal expression required for certain condi- 
tions and emotions of the soul will always add strength 



LA WS OF SPEECH. 51 

\o the tenacious hold this law has upon human speech. 
Tender emotions, like those, for instance, breathed 
by Dickens in his account of the " Death of Little 
Nell," and oratorio passion as thundered in the Phi- 
lippics of Demosthenes, instinctively economize. 
Wit, wisdom, and all forms of passion, seek reduc- 
tion in verbal expression. '' He is a monstrous vil- 
lain " is moderate in comparison with '' Monstrous 
villain ! " or " Villain ! " Whenever an illustration 
can be reduced to a metaphor, or a simile to a single 
word, there is marvellous gain of might. 

The foregoing remarks lay the foundation for the 
following practical rules : 

There should be constant effort by diminishing the 
quantity to improve the quality of speech. Were 
this law obeyed irrespective of all others, every word 
retained w^ould be weighty and indispensable. 

Since redundant words especially weaken an ex- 
pression, they should be cut out without mercy. 
With this law it is as with the file and whetstone ; 
taking something from the knife, they leave it with 
keener edge. '' Still further eliminate," is therefore 
safe and wise counsel to the inexperienced writer at 
almost every stage of his literary composition and 
construction. The eliminated material, nevertheless, 
should be carefully preserved ; it may have strength 
and fitness for some other composition. 

These rules should be obeyed especially for two 
reasons. 

First, no rhetorical exercise is more improving. 
Says Professor Shepard : " It is hard to cast away 



62 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

what has cost you so many torturing throes of the 
brain. But more than half the writer's success con- 
sists in the unpitying and bloody use of the knife/' 

Second, the speaker or writer is under moral ob- 
ligation to economize time — his own and that of 
the hearer or reader. 

V. Law of Selection, 

There is in the universe a wide-spread rumor that 
the fit ultimately prevails over the unfit. Every 
grand type of being and every noble impulse of 
mind is at war with the unfit. It is a warfare to 
improve, if improvement be possible ; if not, then 
to destroy. The law inferred from the data belong- 
ing to this class of facts is termed Selection. It 
differs from the law of Economy in this, that it not 
only reduces a given quantity, but reduces it with 
wise discrimination. 

A law of such general application must have a 
place and a power in the domains of speech. In 
general it requires the stronger or better of two 
words or expressions to displace the weaker or 
poorer, that the fitter may thereby survive. Ha- 
merton expresses the thought thus : " In writing, the 
art of selection consists in giving the utmost effect 
to expression in the fewest words," 

This law has full sway in the more forcible figures 
of rhetoric, and consequently in all the figures of 
oratory. 

It is well-nigh preeminent in the grammatical 
and rhetorical arts of criticism. Its practical opera- 



LAJVS OF SPEECH. 53 

rion calls into special exercise what may be termed 
rhetorical sagacity, that faculty which has the ability 
to discover the non-essentials of a subject, and the 
courage to separate and lay them aside. 

The inspiration of the prophet, the genius of the 
poet, and the linguistic instincts of the common peo- 
ple, often evoke expressions upon which improvement 
is impossible. Men may try until dooms-day, they 
cannot better the New Testament statement of the 
golden rule. The selection has been accomplished. 

So faithfully, too, has the great English poet 
obeyed this, and the law of Economy, that, as Cole- 
ridge remarks, " You might as well think of pushing 
a brick out of a wall with your forefinger, as attempt 
to remove a word out of any of the finished passages 
of Shakspeare." 

It is a rhetorical maxim that the rigJit word is the 
" mdestructible vesture of a thought." 

FT. Law of Suggestion. 

The physical universe, while found to hint much, 
fully explains little. In providence the same method 
holds, as also to some extent in Scriptural Revela- 
tion. The governing principle involved is termed 
the law of Suggestion. 

In the realms of speech this law is found greatly 
to aid Economy and Selection. Conciseness and 
force in speech are found to seek especially the aid 
of suggestiveness. The practical workings of this 
.aw, since it requires hints rather than dictations, 
are delightful to the hearer, and beneficial, particu- 



64 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

larly as a mental discipline, to the speaker. This la\^ 
fixes attention tipon the undertone in speech. It is 
constantly saying, Write something between the 
lines.^ 

VII, Law of Analogous Usage, 

The discovery of correlations and correspondences 
between objects belonging not only to a given class 
or genus, but to such as are different and widely 
separated, is one of the triumphs of modern scien- 
tific research. In fact, reasoning from one class to 
another has never before rested upon as firm a scien- 
tific basis. Hence is inferred the law denominated 
x\nalogous Usage. The first task of the student un- 
der this law is to discover and classify the corre- 
spondences belonging to such objects as are brought 
to his attention ; the second is to seek to introduce 
these correspondences into the products of his indus- 
try and invention. 

The phases of this law in the domains of speech 
to which attention is directed, are somewhat re- 
stricted, being based upon the maxim that any lan- 
guage can do and ougJit to do what it is in the habit 
of doing. The tendencies to conform to this maxim 
are seen, for instance, in the change of irregular 
into regular forms of inflection and speech. Sncli 
changes take place with all tongues in about the 
Bame ratio as culture advances. English speech 
furnishes abundant illustration. 

Every new edition of our dictionaries reduces the 
number of irregularities. Only recently, learnt^ 
dreamt^ leapt ^ dropt were in the ascendant ; but 



LAWS OF SPEECH. 55 

now the past tense and participle of these words 
are regularly formed by the termination ed. Be- 
tween the following verbs there is at present a strug- 
gle for domination, but there can be no question as 
to the issue : bended and bent ; bereaved and bereft ; 
blessed and blest ; burned and burnt ; girded and 
girt ; kneeled and knelt. 

This law, obeyed by children, by illiterate though 
hitelligent people, and by foreigners who are learn- 
ing English, may soon allow the child to say, un- 
corrected, " I rided with my uncle," and " I runned 
down hill." 

Changes in the noun, likewise, are nearly as 
marked as in the verb. The plural of hoof not long 
since was hooves^ now it is hoofs ; that of turfw2iS 
turves^ now turfs ; that of wharf is still wharves 
in America, but wharfs in England. Formerly the 
following words had their plural in e7z (early Sax- 
on) : eye^ pi. eyne ; cow^ pi. ki7ze ; shoe^ pi. shoon ; 
hose^ pi. hosen ; house^ pi. housenP 

There is at present a struggle between the regulai 
and irregular terminations of the following words. 
out the law of analogy must ultimately prevail : 



Eng. pL 


Latin pi. 




Eng. pi. 


Latin pi. 


Datum 


s 


a 


Memorandum s 


a 


Effluvium 


s 


a 


Panacea 


S 


se 


Formula 


s 


ae 


Radius 


es 


ii 


Fulcrum 


s 


a 


Stigma 


s 


ata 


Herbarium 


s 


a 


Stratum 


s 


a 


Hydra 


s 


26 


Vertebra 


s 


ae 


Gambus 


es 


i 


Vertex 


es 


ices 


Mausoleum 


s 


a 


Vortex 


es 


ices 


Medium 


s 


a 









60 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

The same tendency to reach regularity is seen in 
adjectives while forming the degrees of compari- 
son. Old^ elder ^ eldest have yielded to old^ older ^ 
oldest ; late^ latter^ last^ to late.^ later .^ latest ; near^ 
nlg'h^ next^ to near, nearer^ nearest ; bad^ good^ 
though irregular in many of the most finished lan- 
guages, will ultimately adopt the regular formations. 

Adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions are also 
feeling the force of this law. Scarcely and exceed- 
ingly have already driven scarce and exceeding ivoni 
respectable society ; likewise backwards and for- 
wards will soon be dismissed, or give place to back- 
war dly 2iwdifo7'wardly ; concerning, notwithstand- 
ing^ according to^ for the sake of are much less 
used than a half century ago ; w^iile if so be that., 
in as much as, and //* however nevertheless^ being 
abnormal in English speech, have almost entirely 
disappeared. 

The normal working of the law of Analogous 
Usage warrants the practical rule that English-speak- 
ing people should convert as rapidly as possible the 
irregularities of their tongue into forms which are 
regular. 

It may be suggested also that words introduced 
into English from other tongues, shall, in botl) 
structure and pronunciation, doff their foreign and 
don the English dress. Such was the rule with 
the more cu"\ivated Greeks and Romans when in- 
troducing foreign words into their tongues. Even 
proper names, when much used in English speech, 
should be Anglicized and pronounced as if they were 



LAWS OF SPEECH, 57 

English born. Attention to these requirements will 
not injure our mother-tongue ; nay, every such im- 
provement will hasten the day when English, owing 
to the wealth of its literature, its economy, its range 
of expression, and its past conquests, will become the 
international speech of the world. Does this savor 
of national predisposition? But M. Alphonse de 
Condolle, a distinguished Swiss philologist, and Pro • 
fessor Grimm, a leading linguist ofthe Royal Academy 
of Berlin, have both thus predicted. 

VIII. Law of Variation and Contrast, 
The physical universe, within certain limits, 
abounds in deviations from original types, and in 
differences between contiguous objects. The human 
mind is so constituted as to applaud when seeing 
these deviations and differences. Monotony tires in 
proportion to intellectual development. There is to 
be inferred, therefore, in matter and mind, a law 
which may be denominated that of Variation and 
Contrast. An examination of standard literature 
will show that speech is also subjected to this law. 

Shakspeare courted the comic as well as the tragic 
muse ; in the midst of the highest tragedy he gives 
us the lowest comedy. He puts the crazed King 
Lear and the Fool out in the same terrible storm. In 
Hamlet he gives us the unhappy prince and the witty 
grave-diggers, in jocular repartee, even amidst the 
solemnities of burial. 

The great Teacher places side by side the Good 



58 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

Samaritan and the selfish priest, and contrasts I he 
rich man and Lazarus. 

The various figures of antithesis likewise rest upon 
this law. They will be discussed elsewhere. 

IX. Law of Unity and Harmony, 

Were the last-mentioned law unrestricted, there 
would result wide-spread disorder and confusion. It 
is therefore wisely checked by another law, which 
is also universal. Its existence is inferred thus : 
No two clouds are alike, but the sky filled with 
clouds is an harmonious unit. Land and water 
scapes are interspersed in the same picture, yet they 
blend. The Trinity is three and one. 

This unity among variety, unity either of sequence 
or of membership, and this blending of contrasts, 
point to what is known as the law of Harmony. 
In the realm of speech this law has always occupied 
a prominent place. It requires agreement between 
the terms used, the sentiments expressed, and the 
time, place, and occasion of their expression. 

Its agreement with other laws is very marked. 
Witli the law of symbolization it may demand harsh 
words when the idea would thus be better expressed. 
Hiss, whistle, crash, are not euphonic words, but 
correctly used are preflerable to any others. What 
so perfectly describes a falling tree as, '' Then rus- 
tling, crackling, crashing, thundering down." 

It demands likewise that the rhetorical style shall 
adapt itself to the sentiments expressed. Emotions 
of pleasure require elegant and beautiful expression ; 



LAWS OF SPEECH, 59 

illustrated in the neatness of Addison, in the grace 
of Charles Lamb, and in the ornateness of Everett. 
Emotions of grandeur and sublimity demand cor- 
responding expressions. See Milton's ''Paradise 
Regained" (Satan in the Wilderness), beginning^ 
'^ 'Tis true I am that spirit.'* Also the Book of Job, 
especially in chapters xxxviii., xxxix., xl., xli., is a 
marked illustration of obedience to the law of Har- 
mony. 

This law is violated whenever an educated person 
descends to the use of slang, cant, or puns. Some 
of the following words of this class are inelegances, 
some are vulgarities, and all are ill becoming any gen- 
tleman : absquatulate^ all-Jired^ bamboozle^ blow 
him uf^ bobbing rounds bet you^ you bet^ blazes^ 
b'hoys^ crack up^ carryings on^ ca?i't co?ne it^ done 
brow7i^ dufTibfounded^ do tell^ I'm thar^ Jerusa- 
lem I kinder good^ knocking about ^ knocked into a 
cocked hat^ let her slide^ let her rip^face the music^ 
go the whole hog^ Bohemian^ git up and git out^ 
go back on^ goodness gracious^ hopping mad^ hard 
up^ hold on ^ hard row to hoe^ haiTg of the school- 
house^ on a pinch^ put her through^ played out^ 
poor as yob's turkey^ rip out^ run it into the ground^ 
rumbu77iptious^ settle his hash^ laine his bacon^ 
sucked in^ slop over^ I'll come i?z^ short meter ^ try 
it 071 if you dare^ thousa7zd of brick ^ whapping^ 
trans77iogrify^ worth a red. 

Gross and profane speech in presence of this law 
cannot be too severely condemned. Indeed there is 
no law known which does not set its face against 



60 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

such language. A distinguished writer says : '' 1 
resolved, when I was a child, never to use a word 
which I could not pronounce before my mother with- 
out offending her.*' This is loyalty in the realm of 
speech. 

X» Law of Authority, 

The opinions and practice of worthy persons are 
constantly appealed to as authority. In courts of law, 
for instance, the judgments of experts are received 
as evidence. In the domains of speech, the usage 
of a writer of commanding genius, likewise the 
sanction of the literary world at a given period, are 
held to be authoritative. The following rules are 
indorsed by nearly all writers upon this subject: 

*^ Use is the law of language." — Horace, 
** The eldest of the present, and the newest of the past 
language is best." — Ben Jonson. 

*' Words must be reputable, national, and present." — Dr. 
Campbell, 

*' In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; 
Alike fantastic, if too new or old ; 
Be not the first by whom the new are tried, 
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." — PoJ>e, 

From a more extended generalization is derived a 
stricter philosophical rule, that a word or phrase is 
authoritative w^hen it springs from a native germ and 
is in general use ; it is entitled to restoration and 
general use when H springs from a native germ and 
can be understood by the common people. 






LAWS OF SPEECH, 01 

XT. Law of Beauty. 
Emotions of pleasure are excited by two causes, 
the intrinsic fitness of things, and the natural or ac- 
cidental association of things. A discussion of fitness 
in speech, as related to association, belongs to the 
metaphysics of rhetoric ; attention, in this discus- 
sion, is therefore confined to what is termed intrinsic 
or euphonic fitness. The following are noticeable 
examples of euphonic beauty : 

*' And neither the angels in heaven above, 
Nor the demons down under the sea, 
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee." 
*'In these deep solitudes and awful cells, 
Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells, 
And ever-musing melancholy reigns." — Pope, 

On the other hand, such lines as — 

*' 'Twas thou that soothedst the rough, rugg'dbed of pain." 

Bo'Myer, 
and 

*^ His sinuous path, by blazes, wound 
Among trunks grouped in myriads round," 

are manifest violations of euphonic beauty. 

The general principle is soon discovered that an 
expression which pleases the ear is beautiful ; but it 
pleases the ear because easily and gracefully pro- 
nounced. 

" The seat of euphony," says Professor Whitney, 
" is in the mouth, not in the ear." That which per- 
plexes is not regarded as beautiful ; to speak with 
difficulty, is to hear with difficulty ; but difficulty is 
perplexing, hence not beautiful. 
6 



62 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

There are three suggestions, therefore, as to ren 
dering language euphonically beautiful. 

First, by dropping its harsh words. But only 
within certain limits can this be done to advantage 
without breaking other laws which are of greater 
importance than this of Beauty. The Italian tongue 
so abounds with smooth and liquid sounds that va- 
riety and force are well-nigh impossible. 

Second, by softening its harsh words. During the 
development of language there is constant tendency 
to secure ease of pronunciation, and consequentl} 
greater pleasure in hearing. This may be seen in 
the euphonic changes of nearly all languages which 
have grammatical rules. 

Says Lord Kames : '' That the English tongue, 
originally harsh, is at present much softened by the 
dropping in pronunciation of many redundant con- 
sonants, is undoubtedly true ; that it is not capable 
of being further mellowed without suffering in its 
force and energy, will scarce be thought by any one 
who possesses an ear." Still, as this law is far from 
supreme, euphonic changes can be made safely only 
within certain limits. 

Third, by mastering the pronunciation of difficult 
words before using them in public. A given word, 
on the lips of one speaker who can master it, is beau- 
tiful ; on those of another, ugly. The German tongue 
is pleasant to the German ear, and the Arabic to the 
Arab ; to an Italian they are intolerable. The reason 
in part is an imagined difficulty in their pronunciation. 

While a musical ear and a disciplined mind arc 



LAWS OF S PEE CI/. 63 

of chief importance, the following practical rules for 
those not thus gifted may be of service : 

First. A succession of similar sounds is pronounced 
and heard with difficulty. Such, for example, as, 
'^ I can candidly say ; " '• I confess the debility of my 
inability." Dean Alford is guilty of the following 
"inelegant stuttering:" "The rules of emphasis 
come in, in ^V^terruption of your supposed general 
law of position." 

Second. Certain combinations of sounds are pro- 
nounced and heard with ease ; for instance, syllables 
combining two distinct sounds. The combination 
oi is pleasanter than o or e \ le than / or e. Also 
words composed of a succession of open and close 
syllables, as alternative ; likewise words composed 
of long and short syllables, as altitude and rapidly, 
with which compare the difficult words, fruiterer 
and farriery ; again, words having an alternation of 
vowels and consonants : compare the difficult sounds 
in quenched, whilst, placedst, with the hquid and 
vowel sounds in ?72errily, remedy, and bridal \ and, 
in fine, all words in which liquids and vowels abound 
are pleasing to the ear. 

Third. Long words are more easily pronounced 
than several short, easy ones that are connected ; but 
short w^ords are the more forcible. 

Fourth. Certain arrangements as to accent and 
pauses aid in pronunciation, and give pleasure in 
hearing. Cicero remarks that " The stops and divi- 
sions of periods w^ere first introduced for recovering 
the breath and opening the lungs ; and yet in their 



6-1 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

own nature they are so musical, that, though one's 
lungs were inexhaustible, )^et we should not wish for 
continuity of style without any stops, such a sympa- 
thy exists between what is agreeable to our ears and 
what is not only possible, but easy for our lungs." 

Words having the accent alternate upon successive 
syllables are pleasing ; note the difficulty in curso- 
rily^ arbitrarily^ and pere7?iptoriness. 

Fifth. Sentences are pleasing, if arranged to se- 
cure ease and force at the end. Hence a sentence 
should have an accent at the end ; to close with such 
a word as peremptorily^ or w^ith a monosyllable, 
unless it can take the accent, is a violation of euphonic 
beauty. 

Sixth. It is likewise easier to speak a long sentence 
after having spoken several short ones. 

This law furnishes the following rules as to the 
length of sentences : They should not be shorter than 
the ear expects, nor longer than the speaker's breath 
and strength will allow. No writers have excelled 
Cicero and Massillon in the choice of words and in 
the construction of sentences suited to public speech. 

AVZ Law of Auto77iatic Move7ne7it, 
The processes of nature are carried on with such 
ease and regularity that, to many persons, they appear 
necessitated and mechanical. Likewise mental op- 
erations, while for the most part known to be voli- 
tional, often become so habitual that they seem put 
forth without thought or effort. The playing of the 
musician, the knitting of the housewife, the marching 



LAWS OF SPEECH, 65 

of the soldier, continued after he has fallen asleep, 
and other equally striking instances, suggest that 
man in his movements and make-up is to some ex- 
tent automatic. A multitude of facts which can be 
readily grouped under this principle justify the state- 
ment, therefore, that tie human organism when in 
perfect training can do, without conscious eflbrt, 
what it is in the habit of doing. 

As would be expected, this law, in the province 
of speech, holds a prominent place. Talking in 
some instances seems as involuntary as drawing the 
breath. Men, without intention or purpose, talk to 
themselves ; in their sleep they talk. So, too, the 
street hawker, the excited Irish woman, and steve- 
dores on wharf and boat, without ability to recall 
what is said, and without any apparent volition, like 
a machine, talk and talk on hour after hour. But 
human nature is essentially the same in the schools 
as on the street. So far as speech can be regarded 
as an invention, it will be found spontaneous rather 
than studied. Word-making is rarely premeditated ; 
it is usually an intuitive and instantaneous evolution. 
Connected with this law of automatic movement are 
discovered some of the most fundamental and sug- 
gestive principles in the entire field of linguistic 
science. For if the English-speaking student will, 
first of all, cultivate lofty and pure emotions, then 
train his vocal organs to ready and strict obedience, 
and his pen to a free and ready movement, and next 
acquaint himself with pure idiomatic English, and 
master an ample vocabulary, then his rhetorical in- 
6* 



66 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

stincts and intuitions will render the task of correct 
and lofty speech so easy and graceful as to seem freed 
from conscious effort. 

XIII. Law of Needful Practice, 
In every branch of industry it is found that con 
tinued practice is the price of perfect attainment. 
*' There is no such security for good behavior," says 
the maxim, " as active service." Or, as the Saxon 
states it, " One can do well that only which he is in 
the habit of doing." Correct habits, therefore, — not 
rules, — are the proper preventives for all sorts of 
defects. 

Von Bijlow, the eminent pianist, has remarked 
that if he quits his piano for three days, the public 
notices a difference in his playing; if for two days, 
his friends notice a difference ; if for one day, he 
himself notices a difference. 

The practical application of this law of needful 
Practice to language leads to the statement that if 
one would master the arts of oral speech and of lit- 
erary construction he must keep speaking and writ- 
ing. There is no other path equally loyal, or equally 
royal. The speaker must see that his ordinary con- 
versation, which should be free and frequent, shall 
feel the influence of a continued effort to be correct 
and chaste. Cicero was wont highly to commend 
the writer who perseveres in the rigorous task of 
composing an essay daily. 



LAWS OF SPEECH. 67 

XIV. The Psychological Law. 
Confined to rhetorical science and art, this law 
announces the principle that, if the speaker or writer 
would have perfect command of language, he must 
have perfect ideas. '' To write well," says the 
maxim, ''one must think well." But to think well 
implies living well. The surest condition, there- 
fore, of clear, vital, and grand thinking, also of clear, 
vital, and grand speaking and writing, in both prose 
and poetry, is a clear, vital, and grand life. 

XV. Golden Rule of Speech. 
This rule, in brief, is that, first of all, the speaker 
must utter the truth. Any deviation is to be consid- 
ered fundamentally defective and rhetorically vicious. 
But more : the truth must be uttered with the pure 
and lofty purposes of doing good and of persuading 
the hearer to accept and obey the truth presented. 
In pure eloquence will these virtues invariably be 
found. 



68 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Diction and Idiom. 

The discussion of these topics, when subjected 
to the laws above enumerated, is rendered compara- 
tively easy. 

I. Dictioji. In the science of speech, diction re- 
lates to the selection and use of words. 

Correct diction has been decided to be the use of 
such words as are reputable — those employed by 
speakers and writers of high national repute ; and 
f resent — those neither obsolete nor freshly coined. 
The linguistic instincts of poets and of the masses 
will, however, often break from these restrictions, 
being fully justified in inventing a needed word or 
in restoring one that is obsolete. 

The subject of diction includes a discussion of 
Barbarisms — the use of foreign words ; Archaisms 
«— the use of the older words of a language ; Obso- 
letisms — the use of w^ords not employed in stand- 
ard prose literature or in ordinary conversation ; and 
Solecisms^ — an improper use of words. The more 
important and practical suggestions for the English 
student are the following : 

First, the laws of development, analogous usage, 



DICTION AND IDIOM, 69 

and harmony, require, in the formation of compound 
words, that their different parts shall be taken from 
the same tongue. For instance, the negative prefix 
un is English ; ifi^ with which it corresponds, is 
Latin. The following words, in conformity with 
this rule, have recently been changed, the un giving 
place to in : unactive^ unadmissible^ uiiapplicable^ 
tinattentive^ uncorruptible^ and uncredible. 

The Latin in corresponds with the Greek and 
French en. In the case of Greek compounds, there 
is no question as to correct usage. But whether a 
given word is taken directly from the Latin, or indi- 
rectly through the French, presents a difficulty. 
Hence, either in or en may be compounded with 
circle^ close^ quire^ tomb. The tendency, how- 
ever, is increasing in favor of in. The student 
may give suffixes which can be correctly used with 
the following words : unit,, same,, fure^ credible^ 
shoot,, and walk. 

Several laws of language demand still further that 
English-speaking people shall use such words as are 
characteristic of their mother-tongue. The native 
features of English speech, the Anglo-Saxon, are 
natural to English people. " English words," says 
Hare, " sound best from English lips." The child 
of such parentage is far more likely to say, " I wish," 
than to say '' I desire ; " ''I think," rather than '' I 
reflect;" ''1 play," not "I amuse myself;" "the 
apple is sweet," not " delicious," '' sour," not 
'' acid." 

It follows, furthermore, that scholars should heartily 



70 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

sanction all efforts to have English words, especially 
those of Saxon origin, displace their foreign compet- 
itors. 

In this connection it is a fact worthy of note that 
while the stock of words in late dictionaries is made 
up very largely of foreign elements, thinking and 
writing is mostly done in Anglo-Saxon. The aver- 
age American knows far more foreign than Anglo- 
Saxon words, but uses far less. Even the most dis- 
tinguished writers are using a far larger proportion 
of Anglo-Saxon words than were employed by the 
best v/riters of the last century. It is estimated that 
one fifth fewer foreign w^ords are used now than in 
the middle of the last century. During the sixteenth 
century, Greek and Latin sentences were freely in- 
terspersed in all speeches and sermons ; but such 
displays would be regarded at present as ostentatious 
and vulgar.^^ 

The objection will be raised, doubtless, that the 
vocabulary of English is far too limited to meet the 
demands laid upon it by the rapid increase of knowl- 
edge. 

In reply it may be said that, in the held of gen- 
eral literature, the childhood and home speech of the 
English tongue is ample. 

The nativeness of much of the standard English 
literature establishes the fact, that if all which the 
English tongue has received from foreign sources, 
including Greek, Latin, and Norman elements, were 
dropped out, the popular and efTective '' folk-lore," 
the language of purpose, affection, and passion, and 



DICTION AND IDIOM, 71 

the language of the more popular eloquence and 
poetry, would remain well-nigh intact.^ 

The Scotch love Burns, the Americans love Whit- 
tier, and the English-speaking world loves Longfel- 
low as they love no others. Sumner is admired for 
his learning, Everett for his picturesque and flowing 
sentences, but Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg is felt 
to be one of the choicest specimens of eloquence 
ever spoken upon the American continent. But 
these cherished pieces of poetry and prose are among 
the purest, both as to their idiomatic structure and 
diction. 

Goethe is authority for the saying that " He who 
is acquainted with no foreign tongue knows nothing 
of his own." This is not true. Among the most 
distinguished representatives of the mother-tongues 
of different nations are men who were not general 
linguists. Demosthenes was a master of words ; he 
was, however, no master of foreign tongues, but 
built his style on Thucydides, who was remarkably 
pure in diction and idiom. Izaak Walton and Hugh 
Miller were not linguists, but they were acquainted 
with, nay, were masters of English speech. Dr. 
Richard Farmer, in his " Essay on the Learning of 
Shakspeare," shows that the great poet's knowledge 
of the ancient classics was derived, not from origi- 
nals, but from translations, of which he copied even 
the blunders. It has been thought by not a few that 
it is well for the Ensflish tonorue that while the ladies 
of the realm were reading Greek, Shakspeare's father 
was unable to write his own name. 



72 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Another suggestive fact is, that, while Webster's 
Dictionary contains one hundred and fourteen thou- 
sand words, most writers do not employ over five 
thousand. Milton's vocabulary was limited to eight 
thousand words. These facts suggest that many of 
the foreignisms of our tongue could be safely and 
easily dispensed with. 

The strongest plea in favor of Latin and Greek 
words has been based upon their necessity for pro- 
fessional and scientific purposes. But those classical 
tongues are no longer the exclusive repositories of 
knowledge. Science is yearly more and more pop- 
ularized, and therefore its terminology among Eng- 
lish-speaking people is more and more Anglicized. 
The American mechanic studies science, but is not 
a linguist. The great republic of letters, in view 
of the general prevalence of scientific investigation 
and discussion, will demand that the sciences, with 
all their terms, shall be put into the vernacular of the 
common people ; the language of the schools will 
suffer the fate of the Coptic Zend and classical 
Greek. 

This advance can be already reported, that emi- 
nent scientists, the world over, are substituting the 
language of the common people in place of the tech- 
nical terms of the schools and the sciences. Indeed, 
from the start it might have been as well, upon lin- 
guistic grounds, for the sick man to have taken water 
instead of aqua^ and to have been told that his re- 
tina is inflamed.^ instead of being startled with the 
announcement that he has the amfhiblestroidites \ 



DICTION AND IDIOM. 73 

night-blindness is easier to bear than nyctalopia. 
Were Americans as loyal as Germans, they would 
say mineral oil instead of petroleum^ vjater^stitff 
instead of hydrogen^ sour-stuff instead of oxygen. 
5iar-k?zozuledge instead of astronomy^ earth-knowU 
edge instead of geology ; old-life instead of paleo* 
zoic^ middle-life instead of viesozoic^ and new- 
life instead of cenozoic. We are coming to hear 
among the great scientists of the day the words sun^ 
stuf^ star-stuf^ and life-stuff. The presidents of 
German universities address their graduating classes 
in the German tongue ; American presidents in the 
Latin — why? 

Plutarch, in summing up the accomplishments of 
Cicero, says : " He made it his business to compose 
and translate philosophical dialogues, and to render 
the Greek terms of logic and natural philosophy in 
the Roman language. For it is said that he first, or 
principally at least, gave Latin terms for these Greek 
words : phantasia (imagination), syncatathesis (as- 
sent), epoche (doubt), catalepsis (comprehension), 
atomos (atom), ameres (indivisible), kenon (void), 
and many other such terms in science ; contriving, 
either by metaphorical expression or strict transla- 
tion, to make them intelligible and familiar to the- 
Romans." ^ 

Were it true that the English vocabulary is pov- 
erty-stricken, it would be the duty of the English- 
speaking public, in obedience to the laws of lan- 
guage, not to import, but to restore certain native 
'vords which have become obsolete through the 



74 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

usurpation of foreigners. All recognize forbear^ 
forbid,^ forgive,^ J'o7'lorn^ forsake^ fo7'sooth^ and 
the like, as established English words of primitive 
origin. The following words, once in use, are 
equally deserving restoration : for-judged (unjustly 
judged), for-pined (wasted away), for-watched 
(weary with watching), yb/'-w^// (exhausted with 
weeping), for-worn (tired out), for-do (to undo), 
and for-dwined (dwindled away). 

Geology has restored out-crop ; out-Jlank has 
been retained in military science, and out-boufzd 2inA 
out-fit in navigation ; outing and inning have been 
revived through the ball game. 

If occasion calls for the use of the old words out- 
go (in opposition to income)^ out-power (to excel in 
power), out-rive (to tear apart), out-take (to except), 
and out-wear (to wear out), why not freely welcome 
them ? 

In the poet Spenser's day the words dapper^ 
scathe,, askance^ embellish^ forestall,, and fain,, now 
authorized, were condemned as obsolete. In the 
seventeenth century the following words, which had 
been used by Chaucer and his contemporaries, were 
also classed as obsolete : anthem,, carve,, blithe,, 
bland,, sphere,, transcend,, thrill,^ dovetail,, ledge^ 
tissue,, plumage^ resource,^ tapestry,, and villany ; 
they are now regarded as indispensable. 

Every linguistic law bearing upon this subject is 
positive in requiring the restoration of native words 
when they can as well take the place of those 
which are foreign. There is neither law nor reajon 



DICTION AND IDIOM, 75 

that does not allow the followhig words to have 
at least equal rank with their foreign competitors : 
out'Come (result), out-do (excel), out-ed (expelled), 
out'break (eruption), out-cast (degraded), out-Jiow 
(efflux), out'la?zder (foreigner), out-lay (expendi- 
ture), out-line (delineation), out-ness (externality 
or objectivity), already restored by Sir William 
Hamilton ; inness (internality or subjectivity), 
out-word (extrinsic), out-wrest (extort), wan-hope 
(despair), wan-trust (jealousy), again-rising (res- 
urrection), and again-bit e of inwit (remorse of con- 
science). 

'' There is an angel in that piece of marble," said 
Michael Angelo ; and there was. There is in the 
English tongue untold wealth of diction ; let loyal 
artists bring it out. 

II. Idiom. It is the peculiar mould in which the 
sentences of a given tongue naturally shape them- 
selves. It differs from dialect in being less local and 
temporary, and in being far more fundamental. 
Every distinctly marked tongue is found to have an 
idiom peculiar to itself. Idiom involves, therefore, 
the science and art of phrasing sentences in harmony 
with the genius of a given tongue. 

Cicero and Qiiintilian asserted that purity of 
idiom is to be found chiefly among women and chil- 
dren. It is also remarked by De Quincey," that the 
pure idiom of our mother-tongue survives only 
amongst our women and children ; not, heaven 
knows, amongst our women who write books." 
'* Would you desire at this day," he continues, " to 



76 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

read our noble language in its native beauty, pictu- 
resque form, idiomatic propriety, racy in its phrase- 
ology, delicate yet sinewy in its composition, — steal 
the mail-bags and break open all the letters in female 
handwriting." 

Hence, such a construction of sentences as is com- 
mon among unlettered but intelligent people, and 
such as is sanctioned in England and America by 
scholarly usage, must be regarded as standard Eng- 
lish idiom. 

So many tongues, bringing with them peculiar 
modes of expression, have met and mingled in the 
English that it seems excessive in idioms. They 
have, nevertheless, been adopted and established. 
" Try to alter the smallest rule of English," says Max 
Mtiller, " and you will find it is physically impos- 
sible." The attempt to adjust the words of an idiom 
to grammatical rules would be an attempt to rob our 
tongue of some of its choicest elements of life and 
strength. But further idiomatic immigration may 
be w^isely guarded against. 

In literature, the poems of Chaucer, Spenser, 
Shakspeare, Milton, Byron, and Lowell, and the 
prose writings of Bunyan, De Foe, Benjamin Frank- 
lin, Charles Lamb, and Henry Newman, are ranked 
among the most idiomatic of standard English lit- 
erature. 

Several of the laws of language call for the res- 
toration of certain idiomatic phrasings which have 
fallen into practical disuse. For illustration : " Did 
vou ring?" (indefinite) should give place to "Did 



DICTION AND IDIOM, 77 

you bell?" (definite); and "It blows'' (indefinite) 
to ''It winds'* (definite). 

A scholarly effort to purify English idiom will 
meet with general approval ; for the popular mind 
is shy of alien words and idioms, but the native and 
half-forgotten ones will always receive hearty wel- 
come.'*^ 

It need not be a matter of surprise, therefore, that 
Dryden and Pope, who modelled their verse after 
Continental poetry, are less popular than many other 
English and American poets of no greater ability. 
Chaucer pleaded for the speech of his fathers ; Spen- 
ser was a disciple of Chaucer ; Milton was a diligent 
student of both Chaucer and Spenser ; Cowper, 
Longfellow, and Whittier, likewise clinging to the 
purity of English diction and idiom, are the poets 
most highly cherished. 



78 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



CHAPTER V. 
Syntax. 

When both diction and idiom are faultless, the 
rhetorical perfection of speech is well-nigh, though 
not absolutely, assured. The arrangement of each 
sentence, and of the entire literary production, call 
for a discussion of additional topics. The first re 
lates to the construction of sentences, termed Syntax. 
It treats of the choice and arrangement of words 
into sentences according to established usage. 

By way of preliminary remark, it should be borne 
in mind that every sentence has its subject-nomina 
tive and its predicate-verb ; it may also have its ob- 
ject. The subject-nominative may have about it a 
cluster of modifiers, as also may the predicate-verb 
and the object. 

A part of a sentence not containing a proposition, 
is a phrase. A part of a sentence containing a prop- 
osition is a clause. A combination of two or more 
sentences is a paragraph. Grammatically, sentences 
are of three kinds : simple^ those having one nom- 
inative-subject and one predicate-verb, as, " Life is 
short ; " complex^ those having one nominative-sub- 
ject, one predicate-verb, and one or more dependent 
or modifying clauses, as, *' Life is short at the long 
est ; " compound^ those havino: two or more nomina- 



SYNTAX, 79 

tive-subjects and predicate-verbs, as, " Life, which 
IS short, should be well employed." The syntax of 
a sentence is therefore faultless when it has these two 
principal factors — the nominative-subject and the 
predicate-verb, with their respective modifiers — cor- 
rectly grouped about them. It follows that the 
English sentence is so simple that he who knows 
not one rule of grammar, if he has keen sense and 
knowledge of facts, may surpass the graduate of 
our best colleges in pure, simple, strong, and correct 
utterance. " In speaking or writing English," says 
Herbert Spencer, " we have only to choose right 
words, and put them in right places." 

This subtle quality in the construction of the Eng- 
lish language, of which as yet grammars have 
scarcely taken note, has been well stated by Richard 
Grant White : " Each word is charged with a mean- 
ing which gives it a tendency toward some of those 
in the sentence, and particularly to one, and which 
repels it from the others ; and he who subtly divines 
and dexterously uses this attraction, filling his words 
with a living but latent light and heat, which makes 
them leap to each other and cling together while 
they transmit his freely-flowing thought, is a master 
of the English language, although he may be igno- 
rant and uninstructed in its use."^^ 

This topic of Syntax is subdivided into . 

/. Principles of Choice. 
The general considerations belonging to this sub- 
copic have been discussed under Diction and Idiom, 



80 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

II. Principles of Arrangement, 
While correct usage allows such wide latitude in 
the logical and rhetorical construction of English 
sentences as greatly diminishes the rules of vSyntax, 
still there are a few general directions as to the order 
of words in sentences which may be of service. 

The law of Symbolization requires that : i. The 
verbal sign and the thought signified should, as to 
their position, exactly correspond. Lord Karnes 
states the rule thus : " If conformity between words 
and their meaning be agreeable, it must of course 
be agreeable to find the same order or arrangement 
in both." 2. The order of nature should govern 
the order of expression. In the nature of things, 
perplexity, for illustration, is the result of ob- 
scurit}' ; hence, " The book is obscure and per- 
plexing,'* is preferable to "perplexing and obscure.'* 
3. The order of thought should govern the order 
of expression. Hence, both the direct and indirect 
forms of speech are correct in English idiom. The 
direct order requires, first the subject, then the verb, 
lastly the object; but if the object impresses the 
mind the more powerfully, then it may precede. 
" Water give me ; " the opening sentence of Paradise 
Lost; King Lear, Act in. Scene 11., beginning, 
" Such bursts of horrid thunder," etc. ; Gen. xlvii. 9 ; 
Matt. xxi. 9; Mark ix. 4; Acts iii. 6; i Sam. xxv. 
25; Nehemiah xiii. 26; Zech. i. 5, are illustrations 
of this rule. 

The law of Development requires : 



S TNT AX. 81 

1 . That transitions shall be from generals to partic- 
ulars. '* Sad and weary (general) was the march to 
Valley Forge (particular). Hungry and cold (gen- 
eral) are the poor fellows (particular) who had been 
so long keeping the field.'* — Irving', 

Upon this principle qualifiers usually precede the 
expressions qualified — the adjective preceding the 
noun, and adverb the verb. A white (general) house 
(particular). See Ps. xliii. 1,2; 2 Cor. vi. 4. But 
in short or simple sentences, the law of Variation 
allows the adjective to follow the noun, and the ad- 
verb the verb. 

2. Periodic sentences — those whose sense is 
suspended until the period is reached — should be 
preferred. The following is an example of an un- 
periodic sentence : 

*'We came to our journey's end, at last, with no small 
difficulty, after much fatigue, through deep roads, and bad 
weather." 

It is rendered periodic thus : 

**At last, with no small difficulty, after much fatigue, 
through deep roads, and bad weather, we came to our jour- 
ney's end.'* 

3. Climax should be sought. See " Figures of 
Oratory," Vol. II. 

The law of Definiteness suggests the following 
rules : 

1. The nominative-subject, the predicate-verb, and 
the object should each have closely grouped about it 
.ts respective modifiers. 

2. The principal^ or, as Blair calls them, the 
6* 



82 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

capital^ words in a sentence should be " so placed 
as to stand clear and disentangled from any other 
words that would clog them." 

3. Dependent clauses should be kept distinct 
from one another. In the following sentence, from 
Thoreau, one is at first at a loss to know with what 
word the italicized that is connected : 

*' We could see . . . that the river made an abrupt turn 
southward around the northwest end of the cliff on which 
we stood, or a little above us, so that we had cut off a bend, 
and that there was an important fall in it a short distance 
below us." 

4. A parenthetical expression should, as Blair 
remarks, " never hang loose in the middle of a pe- 
riod." Wilkie Collins thus violates this rule : 

" Miss Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for tidings 
of the living John Jago in the ^privacy of her oiV7i roo7n." 

The law of Economy requires that there should 
be in the sentence words enough, no more no less, 
than are necessary clearly to express the meaning 
intended. 

The law of Selection, working wuth other laws, 
suggests the following rules : 

1. When each of two words or idioms is in good 
use, the least equivocal should be preferred. 

2. If equally authorized and equally perspicuous, 
the law of Analogy should be followed. 

3. If equally authorized, perspicuous, and anal- 
ogous, the laws of Economy, Beauty, and Authority, 
in the order here given, should be followed. 

The law of Variation and Contrast demands that 



SYNTAX, 83 

A given literary production shall be made up of a 
variety of sentences as great as the other laws allow. 
The law of Unity and Harmony furnishes the 
foundation for the following rules, quoted in the 
main fro m Bla ir^s Rh etoric : 

1. In the course of the same sentence, do not 
shift the scene. 

2. Avoid crowding into one sentence heteroge- 
neous ideas. 

3. Avoid excess of parenthetical clauses. 

4. Do not add members after a full and perfect 
close. 

The difference between grouping a miscellany and 
unifying a composition is thus suggested by De 
Quincey : 

** Every man, as he walks through the streets, may con- 
trive to jot down an independent thought, a short-hand 
memorandum of a great truth. . . . Standing on one leg, 
you may accomplish this. The labor of composition be- 
gins when you have to put your separate threads of thought 
into a loom ; to weave them into a continuous whole; to 
connect, to introduce them ; to blow them out or expand 
them ; to carry them to a close." 

The law of Beauty allows occasional poetic or 
balanced sentences. Dr. Johnson's well-known par- 
allel between Dryden and Pope ends as follows : 

"If the flights of Drjden, therefore, are higher, Pope 
continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze 
is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and con- 
stant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never 
falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishmeni\ 
and Pope with perpetual delight." 



84 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Although an occasional balanced sentence in prose 
is pleasing and emphatic, its continuous recurrence, 
resulting in poetic rhythm, is condemned. " A true 
poet," says Coleridge, " will never confound verse 
and prose ; w^hereas it is almost characteristic of in- 
difierent prose writers that they are constantly slip- 
ping into scraps of metre.'' 

The great poets, especially Chaucer, Spenser, 
Shakspeare, and Milton, in the purity of their prose 
are among the most faultless writers. They quickly 
detect the rhythm and destroy it, as De Qiiincey says, 
" by knocking out a word here and there.'' 

We may conclude the discussion as to arrange- 
ment with the rule that, first of all, clearness in 
verbal expression is to be sought, then economy and 
emphasis, lastly harmony and euphony. 

///. Length of Sentences, 
There is general agreement that long sentences are 
more majestic, short ones more emphatic ; continu- 
ous long sentences fatigue, continuous short ones 
distract the mind. Reed, in his English Litera- 
ture^ speaks of the construction of long sentences 
of an earlier date, which express a continuous and 
well sustained flow of thought and feeling, as a lost 
art. 

Coleridge condemns the general lack of continuity 

in the sentences of modern literature. " In your 

modern books," he says, "for the most part, the 

^ences in a page have the same connection with 



SYNTAX. 85 

each other that marbles have in a bag — they touch 
without adhering." ^ 

English literature, however, since the days of Cole- 
ridge, shows a return to the sentences of commenda- 
ble length. 

Rules governing the length of sentences must, 
from the nature of the case, be few and general. 
The following will be found based upon the laws 
of speech already enumerated : 

1. In proportion to the diversity and distinctness 
of items, especially when addressed to undisciplined 
minds, should sentences be short. The reason for 
this is thus stated by Herbert Spencer : " The longer 
the time that elapses between the mention of any 
qualifying member and the member qualified, the 
longer must the mind be exerted in carrying forward 
the qualifying member ready for use." 

2. When the parts of a sentence constitute a nat- 
ural unity and are firmly knit together by connec- 
tives or correlatives, especially when there is evolu- 
tion of thought, one phrase explaining and generating 
another, thereby resulting in a climax, then long 
sentences are not only justifiable, but for certain 
purposes demanded. The paragraph, — 

'*Zenobia assumed the government after the murder ot 
her husband. She avenged his death. She soon made 
herself formidable to all the nations within her reach. She 
was queen of Palmyra. She was one of the most remark- 
able women Asia ever produced," 

has been thus corrected : 

'* Zenobia, the queen of Palmjra, and one of the most 
8 



86 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

remarkable women Asia ever produced, assumed the gov- 
ernment after the murder of her husband, avenged hia 
death, and soon made herself formidable to all the nations 
within her reach." 

3. The rules of elocution — they are not su- 
prenie — require that sentences, in spoken address, 
should be of such length as can be easily pronounced 
in a single breath. The rule is based upon the 
principle that what is easy for the breath is graceful 
to the ear. 

4. Long sentences seem to fit best the conclusion, 
and those which are shorter the introduction, of a 
literary production. 

5. The due mixture of long and short sentences 
in each paragraph harmonizes best with the laws of 
speech. 

6. Long sentences would better be used to state 
a formal proposition, followed by short ones to 
explain or enforce it. 

7. Inexperienced writers would better err upon the 
side of too short, rather than of too long sentences. 

IV, Beginning and Ending of Sentences, 
As to the beginning and ending of sentences there 
seem to be scarcely any rules in English speech. 
The only one generally agreed upon covers the close 
of a sentence, and is this : Avoid concluding a sen- 
tence with an insignificant word. But with the great- 
est freedom English idiom allows a sentence to close 
with a particle, especially when used emphatically 
or antithetically, or when intimately related to somf 



1 



S TNT AX. 87 

important word in the sentence. Lord Bacon says : 
^' Houses are built to live in, and not look on ; '* also, 
*' Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more 
man's nature runs to, the more ought the law to 
weed it out." Donne, one of the great English di- 
vines, says, " Hath God a name to swear by? Hath 
God a name to curse by? Hath God a name to 
blaspheme by?" Dr. Arnold says, ''Knowledge 
must be worked for, studied for, and more than all 
it must be prayed for." 

V, Supplemental Aids used in the Construction 
of Sentences. 

The meaning of a sentence in spoken address is 
brought out not only by the choice and arrangement 
of words, but also by the arts of elocution. These 
are discussed in Vol. II. 

In written speech the construction of a sentence, 
and even some peculiarity of thought or some pe- 
culiar use of words, are indicated to the eye in three 
ways : 

I. By the use of Capital Letters. Formerly every 
noun, in both writing and printing, begun with a cap- 
ital letter ; but at present only the following words : 

(i) The first word of every entire sentence ; as, 
The words of the prophet came unto 77ie^ saying. 

(2) The first word of every independent expres- 
Bion ; as. The words of the prophet. Hence the 
first word of every book, chapter, letter, note, or other 
piece of writing, and the first word after a period, 
also after a note of interrogation, or an exclamation, 



68 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

when the sentence before and the one after the note are 
independent ofeach other, should begin with a capital. 

(3) The first word of every dependent part of a 
sentence, if very prominent ; as, — 

Verbs are divided into, Regular, which are formed, &c. ; 
and Irregular, which are not formed, &c. Be it enacted, 
'i'hat, &c. 

Hence, the first word of a quotation, introduced after 
a colon ; as, — 

Always remember this ancient maxim : **Know thyself." 
When a quotation is not introduced in the direct 
form, but follows a comma, the first word should 
not begin w^ith a capital ; as, — 

Solomon observes, that *^ pride goes before destruction." 

(4) Proper names, and adjectives derived from 
proper names ; as, America, American. 

When the parts of a proper name have become 
consolidated, only one capital should be used ; as, 
Northampton ; Southbridge ; Newcastle. When the 
parts remain separate, each should begin w^ith a 
capital ; as, South Berwick ; New York ; and New 
Haven. 

(5) Titles of honor, office, respect, and distinc- 
tion ; as, his Excellency, the President. Hence 
all appellations of the Deity should begin w^ith a 
capital. 

(6) Every substantive and principal word in the 
titles of books ; as, Euclid's Elements of Geom- 
etry ; Goldsmith's Deserted Village. (7) The first 
word of every line in poetry. (8) The letters J 
»nd O, when used as words. (9) Any common 



SYNTAX, 89 

noun used to denote an object personified, or an ob- 
ject if specially emphatic ; as, — 

Cheered with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles. 

In the Creed the same distinction is properly observetl. 

3. By the use of Italics. They are used : 

(i) When special emphasis is intended ; as, — 

This tenuity was the only hard word that I heard him 
use during this interview. 

A greater emphasis is indicated by the use of 
Small Capitals ; as, — 

I will rear my structure of better materials than painted 
cards ; in a word, I will write history. 

(3) When a word is used in a peculiar sense. 
(3) When an invented word is introduced. (4) When 
words are borrowed from foreign languages : 

The res dura et regni novitas is the great apology of 
Cromwell. 

In the Bible, the words in Italics are those sup- 
plied by the translators to explain the sense of the 
original. 

(5) Generally, when writing the names of ships, 
newspapers, periodicals, &c. ; as, — 

A full report of his speech will be found in to-day's Tri* 
bune, 

(6) Sometimes in writing parenthetical words 
and phrases ; as, — 

The chairman {at the highest fitcJi of his voice) shouted, 
•* Order!" 

(7) When, for purposes of illustration, examples 
are introduced. 



90 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

3. By the use of Punctuation Marks. The funda- 
mental principle on which the rules of punctuation 
are based, is, that parts closely connected in sense 
do not require separation ; but parts in which there 
is any interruption or modification of the sense, 
should be indicated by appropriate points. 
The chief points of punctuation are : 
(i) Period [.]. This sign, except in direct ques- 
tions and exclamations, is used : a) When a sentence, 
with respect to the construction and the sense in- 
tended, is complete ; as, God made all t/ihtg's, 
b) After all abbreviations ; as, A. D. ; m. a. c) After 
headings and sub-headings, d^ Between sentences 
which are connected by even conjunctions ; as, — 

Our position is, that happiness does not consist in great- 
ness. And this position we make out by showing, that even 
what are supposed to be the peculiar advantages of great- 
ness, the pleasures of ambition and superiority, are in 
reality common to all conditions. But whether the pur- 
suits of ambition are ever wise, is a different question. 

(2) Sign of Interrogation [.?]. It is used in place 
of the period if the sentence asks a question. It is 
also used in the midst of a sentence ; as, — 

If we value, then, as who does not value.? our renown 
among mankind ; if we exult, as who can help exulting? in 
the privileges which the providence of God has conferred 
on the British nation; &c. 

(3) Sign of Exclamation and Admiration [ !]. It is 
used in place of the period if the sentence expresses 
an emotion of surprise or admiration. It is some* 
times used even in the midst of a sentence ; as, — 

When, lo ! a sudden blast the vessel blew. 



SrNTAX. 91 

(4) Comma [,]. This sign is used in general to 
distinguish serial sense, completed sense, broken 
sense, or remote sense, and to clear up ambiguous 
sense. It is employed, therefore : a) Before the verb 
in a simple long sentence, when the nominative case 
is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts ; as, — 

A steady and undivided attention to one object, is a sure 
mark of superior genius. 

Cicero, l/ie eloqtientCicero^ suffered an ignominious death. 

h) Before the relative, when the clause immedi- 
ately after it is used as explanatory of the antecedent 
clause ; as, — 

He, vjho disregards the good opinion of the world, must 
be utterly abandoned. 

But when the relative is so closely connected with 
its antecedent that it cannot be transposed, the comma 
is not used ; as, — 

I have carefully perused the booh ivhich you lent me. 

c) Before that^ used as a conjunction ; as, — 

Be virtuous, thai you may be happy. 

d) Before every three figures, counted from the 
right, when there are more than three, except in 
dates ; as, — 

The amount of stock issued by the several States, from 
1 8 20-1825, was somewhat over $12,000,000. 

e) Between the simple members of a compound 
sentence, except when the members are closely con- 
nected ; as, — 

Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, 
ana wise men use them. 



92 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Close connection renders the comma unneces- 
sary ; as, — 

Revelation tells us how we may obtain happiness. 

jf) Between two words of the same part of speech, 
whether nouns, adjectives, verbs, participles, or ad- 
verbs, when the conjunction is not expressed ; as^ — 
He is a plain, honest man. 

But when the conjunction is used, the comma is 
not inserted ; as, — 

He is a plain and honest man. 

g-) To indicate the place when a verb is under- 
stood ; as, — 

Reading makes a full man ; conference, a ready man ; 
and writing, an exact man. 

h) To separate three or more nouns, adjectives, 
verbs, participles, or adverbs, whether used with or 
without the conjunction ; as, — 

Poetry, music, and painting, are fine arts. 

/) To separate words connected in pairs ; as, — 

Anarchy and confusion, poverty and distress, desolation 
and ruin, are the consequences of civil war. 

j) To separate from the rest of the sentence words 
used in direct address ; as, — 

My son, hear the counsels of thy father. 

k) To separate simple members of a long sentence 
connected by comparatives and phrases placed in 
opposition or contrast ; as, — 

Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, y&t not dull; 

Strong, without rage ; without o'erflowing, full. 



S TNT AX. 93 

But if the sentence is short, the comma is omit- 
ted ; as, — 

How much better is wisdom than gold ! 

/) To separate adjuncts or explanatory phrases, 
either at the beginning, middle, or end of a simple 
sentence ; as, — 

With gratitude 1 remember his goodness to me. I re- 
member, with gratitude, his goodness to me. 

Hence the words, nay^ so^ hence^ again^ jft^st^ 
secondly^ formerly^ now^ lastly^ in fact^ therefore^ 
zu/ierefore^ however^ besides^ indeed^ and all other 
words and phrases of the same kind, when emphatic 
or considered of importance, should be separated 
from the context by a comma. Such expressions 
as the following do not require the comma : 

There is surely 2. pleasure in acting kindly; Idleness cer- 
tainly is the mother of all vices ; He was at last convinced 
of his error. 

w) To separate the two parts of a sentence, which 
have their natural order inverted ; as, — 
To God, nothing is impossible. 

The natural order is, — 

Nothing is impossible to God. 

n) After a short expression used in the m.anner of 
a quotation ; as, — 

Plutarch calls lying, the vice of slaves. 

o) After a single name in apposition, accompanied 
with an adjunct ; as, — 

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was the great Plato 
of the Christian faith. 



94 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

But without an adjunct, the comma is not used ; as, — 
The apostle Peter, 

(5) Semicolon [ ;]. This sign is used : 

a) To separate parts of a sentence when one or 

more of its parts need to be still further separated 

by a comma ; as, — 

He became master of the province of Ulster, and wa.« 
solemnly crowned King of Ireland ; but found himself amid 
his successes obliged to entreat the assistance of King 
Robert with fresh supplies ; for the impetuous Edward, who 
never spared his own person, was equally reckless of expos- 
ing his followers. 

F) In place of a colon or period when a connective 
word is used ; as, — 

He dismissed his army to the great increase of the gen- 
eral confusion ; and finally, terrified by the recollection of 
his father's fate, he resolved to withdraw himself from the 
kingdom. 

It is employed by some writers even without a con- 
nective ; as, — 

It is a question of pure curiosity ; it never can be decided ; 
and as its decision is perfectly indifferent and immaterial to 
any practical purpose, so, it might have been expected that 
the discussion should be conducted without virulence or 
abuse. 

c) Formerly, in place of the colon, before short o** 
informal quotations, addresses and specifications, or 
enumerations, though this usage is now nearly ob- 
solete ; as, — 

Just before the dawn, Kamber AH Beg galloped up, ex- 
claiming; ** The enemy are upon us; rouse up." 



SYNTAX, 95 

d) In place of the comma, when the sentence is 
long enough to demand a well-marked separation ; 
as, — 

Charles had no idea of sanctioning these bills and thus 
Rckno\Yledging the legitimacy of the war which had brought 
him to this extremity; but he knew that the Scottish com- 
missioners had strongly opposed them. 

(6) Colon [:]. This sign is not much used at 
present, except : a) To separate the terms of a pro- 
portion ; as, A : B : : C : D. h) Before examples 
following the expressions, as follows ; the following 
examples ; in these words ^ &c. ; as, — 

Perform the following exercises : He used these words : 
Mr. President : I am now prepared to answer the gentleman. 

(7) Marks of Quotation [" "]. These signs, 
placed before and after words, phrases, or sen- 
tences, indicate that the language is borrowed from 
another. Single quotation points [' '] mark a 
quotation within a quotation. If, however, a quo- 
tation is made from still a third source, the double 
marks are again put in use ; as, — 

**This friend of humanity says, *When I consider their 
lives, I seem to see the ** golden age " beginning again.* " 

Titles of books or of periodicals, and names of 
vessels, usually require marks of quotation, unless 
they are italicized ; as, — 

** Waverley" was reviewed in ** The Edinburgh.'* 
*'The Constitution " is a famous ship of war. 

(8) Crotchets or Brackets [ ]. They are used to 
enclose a sign, word, or phrase interpolated for the 



96 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

purpose of explanation, correction, or supplying an 
omission; as, — 

It is said, " The wisest men [and, it might be added, the 
best too] are not exempt from human frailty." 

(9) Sign of Parenthesis [( )]. It is used to en- 
close some necessary remark in the body of another 
sentence ; commas are now commonly used instead 
of parentheses. 

(10) Hyphen [-]. This sign is used: a) At the 
end of a line, to show that the rest of the word is at 
die beginning of the next line, b) To connect com- 
pound words ; as, — 

He wears a hroad-hrijnmed^ lovj-croivfied hat. 

(11) Dash [ — ]. The dash, either alone or com- 
bined with other signs, is used : 

a) Where the construction or the sense is suddenly 
changed or suspended; as, — 

This world, 'tis true, was made for Csesar — but for Titus 
too. 

b) When a sentence terminates abruptly; as, — 

** I looked and prayed like thee — but now " — 
He hung his head. 

c) To set off a parenthesis, especially when em- 
phatic, or when there are other points within it ; as, — 

He was dressed — and, indeed, so were they nearly all — 
in coarse homespun. 

d) Before echoes, or where that is or namely is 
understood ; as, — 

All the rest was mere flourish — mere palaver. 
The brook had nothing to do beyond what T have 



STNTAX. 97 

<aid, - to flow, to look limpid, and to murmur amid fra- 
grant flowers. 

e) Between a title and the subject-matter, or the 
subject-matter and the authority for it, when both 
are in the same paragraph. 

(12) Paragraph [T]. Is used to denote the be- 
ginning of a distinct thought. Usually indicated in 
modern literature by placing the first word of the 
paragraph a little within the line of the other words 
on the page. 

(13) A line of stars or dots [****] [....] in- 
dicates that some part of a quotation is omitted. 

1* 9 



98 THE ART OF SPEECH: 



CHAPTER VI. 
Grammatical and Rhetorical Rules. 

The laws of speech as already announced, and 
the principles involved in the foregoing discussion 
of Diction, Idiom, and Syntax, furnish substantial 
grounds upon which to base further specific rules 
belonging to the Grammar and Rhetoric of speech. 

This topic, for convenience, may be subdivided 
into rules relating to : 

L Verbs. 

I. The Helping Verbs. Writers, excellent in 
other respects, often err in the use of this class 
of verbs. Sir E. W. Head, in a little treatise on 
^' Shall [Saxon sculan^ to be obliged] and Will 
[Saxon willian^ to determine],'* clearly states and 
illustrates the distinction between these two auxil- 
iaries and their derivatives would and should: 

" Will in the first j^erson expresses a resolution 
or a promise; as, — 

I 'Will not go = It is my resolution not to go. 
1 will give it you = I promise to give it you. 

Will in the second person foretells ; as, — 
If you come at twelve o'clock, you vjill find me at home 



RULES. 99 

VVillin the second person, in questions, anticipates 
a wish or an intention; as, — 

Will jou go to-morrow? =Is it your wish or i?ite7itton to 
go to-morrow? 

J^F"/// in the third person foretells^ generally im- 
plying also intention; as, — 

He ivill come to-morrow, 
signifies what is to take place ^ and an intentio?t. 

Would is subject to the same rules as will. 

Would is often used to express a custom; as, — 
He tvould often talk about these things = It was his cus" 
torn to talk of these things. 

Shall in the first person foretells^ simply express- 
ing what is to take place ; as, I shall go to-morrow. 
No intention or desire is expressed by shall. 

Shall in the first person, in questions, asks per- 
mission ; as, — 

Shall I read ? = Do you ivish me, or will yow permit me, 
to read ? 

Shall m the second and third persons expresses a 
pronrise^ a command^ or a threat ; as, — 

You sJiall have these books to-morrow = \ promise to let 
you have these books to-morrow. 

Thou shalt not steal = I command thee not to steal. 

He sJiall be punished for this = I threaten ox promise to 
punish him for this offence. 

Should is subject to the same rules as shall. 

Should ixQ{\uQn\.\y expresses duty; as, — 

You should not do so = It is your duty not to do so." 

The variation in the use of will and shall in the 
first and second persons seems to be philosophical. 



100 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

As culture advances there is a tendency to shrink 
from speaking presumptuously of the future, also a 
tendency to hide one's own volition ; as, — 

I shall go ; that is, I am under obligation to go, — I cannot 
help it. 

But on the other hand, good breeding forbids that 
such obligation should be charged upon another; 
hence, — 

You will go ; that is, You will choose to go. 

See Judges vi. 37 ; Isa. xl. 8, 10, 11. 

Can and could [Saxon cunnan^ meaning knowl- 
edge, thence ability] ; may and viight [Saxon ma- 
gan^ to be strong if hindrances are removed] ; must 
[Saxon wo/^;2, ability under existing circumstances] ; 
and have and /5(2<f [Saxon habban^ to possess], should 
each be used in harmony with its specific and prim- 
itive sense. For correct use, see Matt. xxvi. 42 ; 
John iii. 7 \ Acts iv. 12 ; i Tim. iii. 8. Inaccuracies 
of translation are found in Ps. Ixxxiv. 10 ; John 
V. dp. 

2. The verbs lay and lie are distinct in meaning 
and application ; they cannot, therefore, be used in- 
discriminately. Lie is intransitive ; it has a subject 
but no object. Lay is transitive, and means, to 
make some object lie ; it has, therefore, both a sub- 
ject and an object. The past tense oilie is lay^ and 
its past participle is lain. The past tense of lay is 
laid^ and its past participle is laid. Thus, the brick- 
layer lays bricks, and being laid^ they lie. The 
book lies on the shelf; it was laid there a week 
ago, and has lain ever since. 



RULES. 101 

3. The verbs szt and set. Sit is intransitive; 
let^ transitive or causative. Hence, the coat sits 
^not sets) well or ill ; The hen is sitting- (not set* 
ting). See Jer. xvii. II ; Luke vii. 15. 

Set has an object as well as subject. See Gen. iv. 
15; ix. 13. 

There is an apparent or real exception when the 
verb involves the idea of continued motion or of 
special activity ; hence, The sunsets (not sits) ; The 
rainy season sets in ; The day sets well. 

4. There are frequent mistakes in the use of the 
verb which call for the following more general rules : 

(i) As to Number, a) The number of the verb is 
affected by the subject, and not by the predicate 
noun ; as, — 

Apples are fruit. His meat was (not were) locusts and 
wild honey. 

b) A singular subject, though modified by a noun 
in the plural, requires a singular verb ; as, — 

Each of his brothers is (not are) well. 

c) A singular and a plural nominative, connected 
by a disjunctive particle, require a verb in the plural, 
and the plural nominative should be placed next the 
verb ; as, — 

Neither the captain nor the sailors were saved. 

d) The plural of distinction allows the grammatical 
inaccuracy, " you were present," but not, " I were 
present." 

e) When two terms are used to represent one sub- 
iect, the verb should be in the singular ; as, — 

Why is dust and ashes (man) proud? 



102 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

y) When there is plurality running through a sen- 
tence whose subject is singular, guard against using 
the plural verb ; as, — 

0«g economist after another — Thornton, Cairnes, Leslie, 
Macleod, Lange, Hearne, Musgrave — have protested against 
some one oi other of the articles of the old Ricardian creed. 

g) Nouns plural in form, but singular in significa- 
tion, may be joined with either a singular or plural 
verb. Amends^ riches^ pains; and the names of cer- 
tain sciences, as mathematics^ metaphysics^ ethics^ 
politics^ optics^ &c., belong to this class. 

Means^ when it points out the instrumentality of 
one agent, is construed as singular ; of more than 
one, as plural. Mean,, in the singular form,, is 
commonly used to signify a middle between two ex- 
tremes. News is now generally construed in the 
singular number. Alms^ riches^ are really singular, 
though now used commonly in a plural sense. 
Thanks is considered a plural noun, though used to 
denote one expression of gratitude. 

h) A collective noun is singular in sense, and there- 
fore should take a singular verb when the collection 
is spoken of; it should take a plural verb when 
the individual persons or things of the collection 
are spoken of. 

/ ) It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a 
noun expresses unity or plurality. It is now con- 
sidered generally best jto use the plural where the 
singular is not manifestly required. 

(2) As to Mode. Only when a concurrence of 
both contingency and futurity is implied in the words 



RULES. 103 

if and though^ are they to be followed by the sub- 
junctive. Whether futurity is implied or not, must 
be ascertained from the context. In accurate com- 
position, the mood employed will give the meaning 
of the sentence ; as, " I will do it if the master de- 
iires me" (i.e. at present). Here there is uncer- 
tainty only whether he does desire 7ne, " I will do 
it if the master desire me" (i. e. at a future time). 
Here there is uncertainty whether he will desire me 
or not. Consequently there is both doubt and fu- 
turity. If and though^ when referring to what is 
fixed and certain, are equivalent to notwithstanding., 
and consequently the verb follows in the indica- 
tive ; as, — 
Though he vjas rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. 

(3) As to Tense, a) Immutability, actual or sup- 
posed, requires the present tense, " He saw that vir- 
tue is advantageous." 

h) The mingling of different tenses in the same 
sentence, or of different forms of the same tense, is an 
error. Matt. v. 23. 

c) The tense of a dependent verb is subordinate to 
that of the principal verb ; hence in the following 
cases the perfect infinitive must not be used for the 
present ; as, — 

He was too young to have felt his loss. It should be. to 
feel his loss. 

I expected to have found him. It should be, I expected 
to find him. 

I intended to have visited him. It should be, I intended 
to visit him. 

I should have very much liked to hai^e seen him. It should 
be» to see him. 



104 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

d) Upon the same general principle, — 
I hoped you vjould have come, should be, I hoped jou 
would come. 

(4) Miscellaneous Instances, a) The object must 
not be written as if it were the subject of a verb ; as, — 

Let he who made thee answer that. 

Let they who raise the spell beware the Fiend. 

Thou^ Nature, partial Nature, I arraign, 

b) The predicate substantive after a verb should be 
in the same case as the subject before it ; as, — 

It is /; not. It is me. I took // to be hhn, 

c) The omission of an essential part of the verb 
from a sentence with no grammatical provision for 
the omission, is an error; as, — 

This dedication may serve for almost any book that has, 
is, or shall be published. 

d) Neuter verbs, as well as nouns, if quantity and 
not manner is expressed, should be qualified by ad- 
jectives rather than by adverbs. " It sounds harsh,, 
not harshly. '' " She looks cold,, not coldly P 

e) Such expressions as " the bell is being tolled," 
" the anvil is being struck," " the house is being 
built," '' the deed is being done," " the storm is 
being brewed," are not met with in English speech 
earlier than 1815. They are violations of correct 
idiom. Illiterate people are therefore correct in 
saying, " the bell is tolling," '* the house is build- 
ing," &c. Macaulay correctly follows the idiom 
when writing, " Chelsea hospital was building." 
Compare also, i Kings vi. 7 ; i Peter iii. English 



RULES. 105 

idiom allows likewise the expression, " the bell is a 
tolling ; " the a being a contraction of on or in, 

y) As follows^ as regards^ as appears,, &c., are 
treated by Dr. Campbell and Mr. Murray as imper- 
sonal verbs, always to be used in the singular. This, 
however, is contrary to the established usage of our 
best writers, who frequently use them in the plural 
form ; as, — 

The circumstances were as follo-w. 

Dr. Crombie considers as to be a relative pronoun, 
and that the verb following it should be singular or 
plural, according as its antecedent is in the singular 
or plural number ; thus : 

His description was as follows; i. e., was this which 
follows. His words were as follow ; i. e., were those which 
follow. 

Dr. Bullions regards such phrases as elliptical, and 
in parsing supplies the ellipsis thus: 

The words were such as those which follow; or, were the 
same as those which follow. 

As concerns,, as regards^ used commonly in the 
singular, may also as well be considered elliptical, the 
ellipsis being supplied thus: 

As it concer7ts ; or, As far as it concerns^ regards, &c. 

As (it) appears,, is always in the singular. 
In the plural, the noun or pronoun is commonly 
expressed thus, — 

These things, as Ikey concern ; or, As far as ikey concern 
us , for, As far as ikese things concern us. 



106 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

g) Avoid the use of no^ to express negation, with 
a verb or a participle ; as, — 

I shall not change my course of action, whether you do 
or not ; not, whether you do or no. 

Ji) Be that as it w///, is a common but an inaccurate 
expression. It ought to be, " Be that as it may,'^ or, 
" may have been." 

i) Past is an adjective ; passed^ the past tense or 
past participle of the verb ; and they ought not, as 
they frequently are, to be confounded with each 
other. 

J) Had rather is often incorrectly used for would 
rather. This inaccuracy occurs in the translation 
of Ps. Ixxxiv. lo : "I had rather be a doorkeeper," 
&c. Strike out the rather^ thus : '' I had (rather) 
be," and the mistake appears. 

The same is true of had better.^ as used for would 
better, 

IL Nouns. 

Law and usage furnish the following rules as to — 

I. The Number of the Noun. 

(i) When nouns of foreign origin are used in the 
plural form, the construction of the sentence should 
harmonize therewith. The following expressions 
are therefore defective : ^^An enfeebled stamina ; " 
" the vertebrce was dislocated ; " '' there is an ad- 
denda;^'* ''this was a remarkable phenomena;'^ 
'' the tableaux was beautiful ; *' "a strata^' •' a 
termini^^ " a memoranda^ The elder Disraeh 
says, in one place, " The Roman Saturnalia 



JOULES, 107 

were-/* in another, ^' Such was the Roman Satur- 
nalia,^* 

Cherub and seraph may form their plural either 
after the Hebrew, as cherubim and seraphim^ or 
according to the English idiom, as cherubs^ seraphs. 
Whichever the form, the plural verb must be used. 
Addison's mistake in using the singular for the plu- 
ral is often charged against him. 

The zeal of the seraphim [Abdiel] breaks forth in a be- 
coming warmth of sentiments and expressions, as the 
character which is given us of him denotes that generous 
scorn and intrepidity which attend heroic virtue. 

(2) Usage allows a plural noun after the second 
of two numeral adjectives ; as, — 

The first and second pages are torn. 

According to analogy, however, it should be, — 
The first and the second page. 

Thus we say, — 

The new and the old world ; Ancient and modern his- 
tory. 

(3) When two numerals precede a noun, one 
singular and the other plural, the plural should 
generally be placed next the noun ; as, — 

The first tvjo lines ; not, The two first lines. 

In such expressions as, Five yoke of oxen^ Ten 
head of cattle^ Pifiy sail of vessels^ the plural ad- 
jective belongs to a noun in the singular, but used 
collectively to convey the idea of plurality. 

(4) The plural, for purposes of emphasis or dig* 
nity, is often employed. 



108 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

2. The Case of the Noun. The possessive case 
of nouns oftenest denotes actual possession. A 
7nan!s hat^ but not, a man^s description ; A ki7ig' s 
friends^ but not, a king's rebels. Though we should 
not speak of a house's roof^ there is the best usage for 
a year's work^ the law's delay. Such expressions, 
however, as, Bennington's centennial,, the fire's 
devastation,^ London's life^ are indefensible. 

3. Verbal Nouns. Verbal nouns in — ing^ in their 
construction, should be distinguished from verbal 
and participial forms of the same termination ; as, — 

Much depends on the faithful observing of this rule ; or, 
on faithfully observing this rule; but not, Much depends 
on the faithfully observing the rule* 

In the last sentence, the indicates that observing Is 
used as a noun ; hence an adverb cannot precede it, 
and of should follow it. 

4. Rhetorical Choice. Nouns intimately associ- 
ated should have resemblance in kind. 

Dictionaries and professors of rhetoric have given us the 
following rules. — Dean Alford, 

The wording should be either, Dictionaries and treatises 
upon rhetoric ; or, Compilers of dictionaries and profes- 
sors of rhetoric. 

///. Pronouns, 
Law and usage furnish the following rules as to, — 
I. The Number of the Pronoun. 
(i) The mingling of singular and pluraL num- 
bers in the same sentence is an error ; as, — 

Each of the sexes should keep within its particular 



RULES. 



109 



b«^unds, and content thetriselves to exult within thtir respeo 
tive districts. — Addison. 
If a person would, &c., they must, &c., should be, he must. 

(2) When a pronoun refers to two or more sub- 
stantives taken together and of different persons, it 
becomes plural ; as, — 

John and I do our duty. 

(3) The pronoun and its antecedent must agree 
in number; as, — 

Let all attend to their yfox\\ not, Let every one attend to 
their work. 

2. The Person of Pronouns. 

(i) When, in popular address, reference is made 
to something elevated and desirable, you is the bet- 
ter pronoun to etnploy, and we w^hen the opposite is 
implied. 

(2) In arranging nouns or pronouns of different 
persons, a pronoun of the second person should be 
placed before one of the first or the third ; as, — 

Tou and he and /; not, / and he and you. 
But in confessing a fault, it is more manly for the 
speaker to put himself first. 

(3) A pronoun relating to an antecedent consisting 

of coordinate terms of different persons or genders, 

should agree with the first person rather than the 

second or the third, and with the second rather than 

the third, and with the masculine gender rather than 

the feminine ; as, — 

You and Charles are learning j'<?«r lesson ; not, their les- 
son. 

See also Gender » 

10 



110 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

3. The Gender of Pronouns. When men and 
women are included in a reference, the pronoun 
being in the singular should be masculine ; as, — 

If any one is here [men or women] he should, &c. ; not 
they should, &c. 

See Gen. xxi. 26; James v. 13. This usage is al- 
lowed both because the English language is destitute 
of a pronoun of the third person which may apply 
equally to either sex, and because the masculine is 
supposed to be the more suitable representative of 
both sexes. 

4. The Case of Pronouns. 

(i) The nominative must not be used as the object 
of a preposition ; as, — 

Between you and me ; not. Between you and /. 

(2) In using pronouns in the possessive, the apos- 
trophe must not be inserted in writing, nor the letter 
n be added in speaking ; as theirs^ not their* s ; his^ 
hers^ ours^ yours ^ theirs — not, hisii^ hern^ ourn^ 
theirn, 

5. Rules as to some of the different pronouns. 

(i) It and its. a) The law of definiteness de- 
manded the invention of its^ and now requires its 
use ; his was the possessive of its until 1600 A. d. ; 
as in Gen. i. 12; Matt. v. 13. 6) It, used in a 
vague sense, not unlike the algebraic symbol for an 
unknown quantity, is made a subject-nominative, 
representing a clause, a noun or a pronoun in any 
number, person, or gender; as, — 

It is /. It is clear that the enemy has crossed the river. 



RULES. 



Ill 



c) For the correct use of the personal pronoun 
with it and than^ see Matt. xiv. 27 ; xxvi. 22, 25 ; 
Eccl. ii. 25 ; Matt. x. 37. c/) A sparing use of its 
as correct composition will allow, is recommended. 
'' When I hear a man gets to his ' its^ " says Wm. 
Cobbett, '' I tremble for him." 

(2) WJio^ which^ and thai, a) W7io and ^vhose 
refer to persons and things personified ; ivhick^ to 
infants, irrational animals, and to persons when the 
specification is indefinite or interrogative ; and that 
is used in place of both which and who; as, — 

The cat ivkick, or that mews, not, -who mews. The 
stranger ivko^ or tkat, came ; not, The stranger ivkic/i came. 
Which (interrogative) is the happy man? Which of these 
ladies.? Matt. vi. 9. 

<$) Which is general ; that is restrictive ; hence a 
relative clause that conveys an additional and gen- 
eral idea requires which instead of that; for an 
illustration see the use of that in the last sentence. 

c) And is often improperly placed before which; 
as, — 

The Princess of Wales acknowh^dges, &c., and ^or which 
she is profoundly recogriizant. 

'' This fault," says Dean Alford, " is one of the 
commonest in the writing of careless or half edu- 
cated persons." 

d) But is often improperly used before that after 
words which imply doubt or fear; as, — 

I doubt not but that he will fulfil his promise. 
This sentence is ambiguous. By striking out the 
but^ the sentence is rendered clear. 



112 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

e) How is often improperly used before that; as, — 

lie said that he should come; not, how that he should 
come. 

(3) The pronouns, former^ latter,, either,^ and 
neither,, signify one of two persons or things ; 
therefore they should not be used for the Jirsty the 
last,, a7iy one,, or no one,, because these last signify 
one of three or more persons or things. 

Dry den, Pope, and Wordsworth have not scrupled to 
lay a profane hand upon Chaucer, a mightier genius than 
either, 

is incorrect. 

The phrase, last of two,, is favored by respectable 
usage ; still the latter of two is preferable. 

(4) Another corresponds to one. It is, therefore, 
improper to use it with some,, or every ; as, — 

From one writer to another ; not, From every writer to 
another. At some hour or other', not, At some hour 01 
another. 

(5) The reciprocal each other should be applied 
to two objects ; one another to more than two. 

Righteousness and peace have kissed eacJi other; not, one 
another. These various tribes have been at war with one 
another ; not each other, 

6. Miscellaneous, (i) Only in case where special 
rhetorical emphasis is sought, should the noun and 
pronoun be used in apposition ; as, — 

The boy did it; not. The boy he did it. 
The lecture was published ; not, The lecture it was pub- 
lished. 



RULES. 



113 



(2) To prevent ambiguity, the relative, with its 
clause, should be placed as near as possible to its 
antecedent; as, — 

The boy beat his companion, whom everybody believed 
incapable of doing mischief; should be, The boy, whom 
everybody believed incapable of doing mischief, beat his 
companion. A boy w^o deceives his father will regret it: 
not. If a boy deceives his father he will regret it. 

The student may correct the following : 

Upon the death of Claudius, the young Emperor Nero 
pronounced his funeral oration, and he was canonized 
among the gods, who scarcely deserved the name of a man. 

(3) The relatives this and these refer to objects 
near, in fact or thought ; that and those to objects 
remote or hateful. Rev. vii. 13, 14 ; Lev. xx. 3 ; 
Matt, xviii. 7 ; James i. 7. 

(4) The relative, especially in colloquial language, 
is sometimes left to be supplied ; as, — 

The friend I visited yesterday, is dead to-day; for, The 
friend whom I visited, &c. 

The vulgar use of them for ihose^ and this here 
or that 'ere^ for this or that.^ even in ordinary con- 
versation, should be rigorously avoided ; as, — 

Those books; not, Them books. This chair: not. Tkii 
*ere chair. 



IV, Qualify iitg a7id Descripti'':e Woi'ds, 
I. Adverbs. 

(i) Whether the adverb, as the qualifier of the 

sentence, sliall give place to the adjective, depends 

upon the principle that the adverb should be used 

where the intention is to qualify the verb, the adjec- 

8* 



114 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

tive where the intention is to qualify the noun. It 
IS safe to join the adjective with a verb for which the 
corresponding form of to be or to seem can be sub- 
stituted ; as, — 

The sea looks rough, and the winds treat him roughly; 
his voice sounds soft, and he speaks softly ; how sweet the 
moonlight sleeps, and how sweetly she sings. The apple 
tastes sweet ; not, tastes sweetly, 

(2) Such refers to the species or nature of a thing ; 
so refers to degree; as, — 

Such a temper is seldom met. So bad a temper is sel- 
dom met. 

Usage ^\2ice^ suck instead o^ so before an adjective 
followed by a plural, and even by a singular noun ; 
as, — 

Such beautiful flowers 1 have seldom seen ; not, So beau- 
tiful flowers. 

Still it would be correct to say, — 

I have never seen flowers so beautiful. 

(3) Rather is claimed to have the same meaning 
as the termination ish; hence the expressions rather 
child^V/^, rather %€iUsh^ &c., are held to be tautolog- 
ical. Usage, however, makes ish with nouns a 
disparaging termination. 

(4) The phrase, seldom or ever,, is not correct. 
It should be, seldom or never^ or, seldom if ever. 

(5) Farther and farthest (positive far^ denote 
place or distance ; as, — 

The farther they advanced, &c. 

Further and furthest (positive fore or forth^ de- 
note quantity or addition ; as, — 

I have nothing further to sav. 



RULES. 



115 



(6) An adverb should not be placed between to^ 
the sign of the infinitive mood, and its verb ; as, — 

He's not the man to tamely acquiesce, should be, tamely 
to acquiesce. 

(7) Adverbs are for the most part placed before 
adjectives, after a verb in the simple form, and after 
the first auxiliary in the compound form ; as, — 

He is very attentive, behaves well, and is mtich esteemed. 

2. Adjectives. 

(i) Several of the laws of speech require that 
when a noun becomes an adjective it shall undergo 
some change of termination ; as, — 

A gold-e« harvest. A leather-// girdle. 
But English idiom allows almost any noun without 
change to become an adjective. The consequences 
which follow have been thus classified by Professor 
Kerl : 

First. The adjective-noun must be placed before the 
other; as, An iron gate. 

Secondly. Unlike the case of apposition, it means a dif- 
ferent thing from the limited noun ; as, A berry pie. 

Thirdly. It becomes only partially an adjective, still re- 
taining some of the characteristics of the noun. It is Itm- 
ited like the noun ; as, A \)\^\'pressiire engine ; not, A high 
engine, nor a highly pressure engine. 

Fourthly. To avoid ambiguity, the hyphen is often used 
to unite the two into a compound wrord; as, A white-oak 
pail; not, A v^rhite oak-pail. See in the dictionary the 
compounds of ^<?^, bear, fire, or almost any common word. 

Fifthly, The noun thus used must be in the singular 
number, even when limited by an adjective signifying plu- 
rality ; as, A foot pole ; a te7i-foot pole ; forty horse power; 



116 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

not, horses' fozver. This must be so, even when the noun 
otherwise is used 07ily in the plural ; as, A ^(?w^/-complaint, 
a sJ>ectacle-m2i\iQY \ not, A ^^rx/^/^-complaint, a spectacles^ 
maker. 

(2) The comparative degree compares two ob- 
jects ; as, — 

The Tvtser of the two. 

The superlative degree compares more than two: 

as, — 

The wisest of ten men. 

Many writers, how^ever, do not subject themselves 
to this rule, but employ the comparative degree 
whenever a comparison, without regard to number, 
is actually instituted. Yet such usage must be re- 
garded as faulty. 

(3) Double comparatives and superlatives are not 
in reputable usage ; as, — 

This is the unki?idcstcwt of all; not, The most unkindest 
cut of all. 

The same principle forbids giving superlative 
forms to adjectives which already have a superlative 
meaning ; as, — 

Most perfect, most unbounded, most extreme, most un- 
precedented, too universal, very priceless, most hopeless, 
most merciless, most complete, most unparalleled, very in 
cessant, so inseparable. 

(4) While these grammatical improprieties are 
inexcusable in ordinary prose, still, in poetry and in 
flights of impassioned oratory which represent states 
of feeling too intense to be satisfied with ordinary 
expressions, they are allowed. 



liULES. 117 

(5) Adjectives having the same meaning as the 
i50un qualified (tautology), when used for purposes 
of emphasis, or in order to call attention to a char- 
acteristic quality, may be employed. Gen. i. 21 ; 
Rev. iv. 7. 

(6) A plural adjective must not limit a singular 
noun ; as, — 

This sort of people ; not, Those sort. 

(7) Less refers to quantity, fe-wer to number; 
hence, — 

No man ever had less friends, should be, fezver, 

(8) The use of then as an adjective is objection- 
able ; as, — 

The then ministry, should be, The ministry of thai time. 

(9) In the same sentence similarity of form is de- 
sirable, hiterrogative and excla?natory sentences, 
should be, Interrogatory and exclamatory ; Firsts 
secondly^ thirds should be. Firsts second., third., or, 
Firstly^ secondly .^ thirdly. 

The adjective should be placed next its substan- 
tive ; as, A new pair of shoes, has one meaning ; 
A pair of new shoes., another. 

3. Articles. 

(i) The article is not used before a title or name 
employed merely as a word ; as, — 

He is called captain; not, the captain. 

(2) The article is not used before the second noun, 
when the same object is compared in two different 
capacities ; as, — 

He is a better teacher than poet; not, than a poet 



118 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

(3) A is not used before the sound of a vowel, nor 
an before the sound of a consonant; as, — 

A71 apple ; not, a apple. 

(4) If the second member of a compound sen- 
tence requires a different article from the first, it 
should not be omitted ; as, — ■ 

A house and a7i orchard. 

(5) If, in a compound sentence, formed with the 
adverb both and the conjunction a7id^ an article fol- 
lows the adverb, then that article must be repeated 
after the conjunction ; as, — 

Perform the office both of a preacher and a pastor. 

(6) Standard authority places the article before 
the first adjective only,^ when the noun is put in the 
plural at the end of the series ; as, — 

The first, second, and third regiments. 
The omission of the article may leave the ap- 
plication of the adjectives doubtful, and therefore 
sometimes endangers the perspicuity of the sentence. 
Hence the next rule. 

(7) Dignity, perspicuity, and emphasis, can be 
gamed by the repetition of the article. Matt, xxviii. 19. 

(8) A repetition of the article takes the singular 
number ; as, — 

The first and the second verse; or, the first and secord 
verses. 

F! Connecting Words. 

I. Prepositions. 

(i) Reputable authority has established the awk- 
ward use oithan as a preposition before whom ; as, — 
Which when Beelzebub perceived, than -whom. 



RULES, 119 

(2) The preposition for should not be used before 
the infinitive employed to express motive or pur- 
fose; as, — 

He went to see ; not, for to see. 

(3) The preposition should be repeated after a 
disjunctive conjunction if the action in the two verbs 
is of different kinds ; as, — 

To speak or to write ; not, To speak or write. 

(4) As to exactness in the use of prepositions, see 
Law of Dejiniteness,, p. 45. 

2. Conjunctions. 

(i) As and than may be used with the subject or 
the object, as the sense requires ; as, — 

I esteem you more tJian or as much as they [do] ; and, 
I esteem you more than or as much as [I do] them, 

are both right. There is need, therefore, of guard- 
ing against ambiguity ; as, — 

He can eat more than I, 
has one meaning ; 

He can eat more than me, 
another. Correct usage is found in Eccles. ii. 25 ; 
Matt. X. 37. 

(2) Or responds to either^ nor to neither. Gen. 
xxxi. 24. 

(3) The introductory for ; as, — 

For his opponents to lay in ambush, 
is nearly obsolete. 

(4) The infinitive sign to should give place to and 
in such case as the following: 

Please, dear reader, to try and not think me so. — Z>eaft 
Alford. Try not to think me so, i? better. 



120 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

(5) Most writers are too free in the use of and^ 
especially at the beginning of sentences. The Eng- 
lish version, with too constant uniformity, has trans- 
lated Vav by and^ when then would often be pref- 
erable. See Gen. i. 

(6) In a series of coordinate terms, unless great 
emphasis is required, the conjunction should be in- 
serted between the last two only ; as, — 

Peter, James, and John; not, Peter, <?»^ James, and ^ohn, 

(7) Rapidity or intensity of expression requires 
the omission of all connectives. Ex. xv. 9, 10 ; Ps. 
xlvi. 6 ; civ. 27-30. 

(8) The individual importance of the different 
members of a compound sentence may require a 
repetition of connectives. Gen. viii. 23 ; Matt. vi. 13 ; 
vii. 27,28; xxviii. 19; Rom. viii. 38,39; 2 Peter, 

(9) Also dignity of expression may require their 
repetition. Rev. v. 12, 13. 

(10) There should be care, in using correlatives, 
to place both conjunctions so as to mark correctly 
the prominent or contrasted terms ; as, — 

He was not only poor, but idle; instead of, Not only was 
he poor, but idle. 

3. Interjections. 

(i) They are of rhetorical and dramatic, rather 
than of logical or didactic character. Hence Heyse 
correctly speaks of them as " vocal gestures," while 
Home Tooke is equally correct in saying that often 
they are only a " miserable refuge of the speechless, ' 

(2) They are indefinite, hence their excessive use 
is extremely objectionable. 



1 



RULES. 121 

l^I, Sentences, 
I The sign to should not close a sentence ; as, — 
He spoke, or intended to. 

2. Two negatives should not be employed to ex- 
press a negation ; as, 

I have no book; not, I haven't no book. 

3. The subject and attribute of a sentence must 
be kept distinct ; as, — 

The noun Jafnes is the name of the actor; not, The noun 
James is the actor, 

4. Coordinate constructions should be similar and 
proportionate ; as, — 

I saw him enter the gate and ri7tg the bell; not, I saw 
aim entering the gate and ring the bell. 

5. Every word, except an interjection, should have 
grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence. 
Correct the following : 

The property vfYiioh. every man has in his own labor, as 
it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is 
the most sacred and inviolable. 

6. An omission of words is admissible whenever 
they can be supplied in the mind with such certainty 
and readiness as not to obscure the sense ; as, — 

He was a learned man, and he was a wise man, and he 
was a good man, 

would be better thus : 

He was a learned, wise, and good man. 

The auxiliaries of the compound tenses are often 
used alone to represent the verb ; as, — 

We have done it, but thou hast not, [thou hast not done it] 
11 



122 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

The verb to be^ with its subject, in dependent 
clauses, is often omitted after the connectives //", 
tJiough,^ yet,, when,, &c. ; as, — 

Study, if [// {s\ neglected, becomes irksome. Though 
[ ke was\ poor, he was honest. 

7. An omission is not allowable when it would 
obscure the sentence, weaken its force, or violate the 
laws of harmony or beauty. Therefore, articles, 
pronouns, and prepositions, should always be re- 
peated when the words with which they stand con- 
nected are used emphatically. Even nouns, adjec- 
tives, verbs, and adverbs, must often, under such 
circumstances, be repeated ; as, — 

Not only the year, but the day, and the hour were ap- 
pointed. 

It is generally improper, except in poetry, to omit 
the anfecedent to a relative ; and always so, to omit 
a relative, when of the nominative case ; as, — 
We are inclined to flatter {those'\ who flatter us. 

8. The following provincialisms should not be al- 
lowed to mar the sentences of any one who aims at 
correct and chaste speech : — Says -T, Thinks /, 
Thinks says /, for, / say. &c. ; Come,, for go ; 
Done^ for did ; Wrote^ for written ; See,, for saw ; 
Give,, for gave ; Ain't,, for are not ; Show,, for 
showed \ Proven,, for proved \ India-rubbers ,i or 
gums,, for overshoes ; Ton,, for that ; Part,, for re- 
gion^ (as, Switzerland is a mountainous fart ;) This,, 
for this place \ In this connection, for in connection 
with this subject ; TU be back to rights,, for fres- 



RULES, 123 

ently ; Right off^ right away^ for im7nediately ; It 
rains right hard^ for very hard \ A sinart sprinkle^ 
a smart chance, a smart boy, for a heavy shower^ 
2Lgood chance, a bright boy ; Bully ^ or cracky for 
excellent ; Fetch up^ for bring up [a child] ; Tc? 
^/^/, for /^ ^/^^ ; 77^^ States^ for M^ United 
States, 



124 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Style. 

After discussing the general laws of speech, to- 
gether with its diction, idiom, syntax, and grammat- 
ical rules, there still remains a quality which neither 
one of these topics covers ; that quahty is denomi- 
nated Style. The following divisions will aid in 
the treatment of this subject. 

/. Definitions. 

It has been found difficult to define some of the 
subtle elements belonging to rhetorical style. The 
ordinary definitions, given in rhetorical treatises, 
are felt to be inadequate because they are artificial 
and superficial, rather than philosophical and fun- 
damental. There is general agreement, however, 
that style is the most delicate form in which thought 
incarnates itself. It is the exactest symbol of the 
expression of thought or character. BufTon rightly 
says, " Style is the man." In harmony with this 
view, each race of men, oriental or occidental, 
barbarian or civilized, is found to have a style pe- 
culiar to itself. 

Each distinctly marked period in any nation's his- 
tory, likewise, has a style of speech as distinctly 
marked as any other feature of that period. Latin 



STYLE, 125 

literature, for instance, had its tliree general epochs 
of rhetoric style, called the golden^ silvern^ and 
iron. Thus also, Hooker, Addison, Johnson, and 
Macaulay, represent four different epochs of style in 
English prose literature. 

But, furthermore, every individual member of the 
race has a style as marked as the features of his 
^ace. 

**Thus Bacon exhibits in his essays the force of concise 
and well-balanced antithesis; Addison, negligent grace; 
Goldsmith, ease and elegance; Sterne, sprightliness and 
wit. The style of Johnson and of Gibbon is elaborate and 
Latinized ; that of Bunyan and Defoe is marked by Saxon 
simplicity; Carlyle displays vehemence and energy; De 
Quincey, richness and splendor; Emerson, epigrammatic 
point and sparkle." — De Mille, 

II, Classification. 

The prime excellences in style are : 

I. Naturalness. The following remarks will ex- 
hibit the character and importance of this quality : 

(i) Style, to be natural, must be native — indige-t 
nous, *' Everything w4iich art has brought to per- 
fection," says Qiiintilian, " had its origin in nature." 

'' That a man should become in style a child," 
says Vinet, '* without losing his gravity and ma- 
turity, is most uncommon and most interesting." 
" When we meet with a natural style," says Pascal, 
" we are surprised and delighted ; for we expected 
^o find an author, and we have found a man." 

This native style is not so rigid, however, as to 
prevent great and sometimes astonishing variety, 



126 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

when ditFerent subjects are discussed. There can 
be no question that every person's style, being pe-* 
culiar to himself, is an armor which he can wield 
against a Goliah, as he can wield no other. 

(2) Style, being neither borrowable nor purchasa- 
ble, must, therefore, be developed. The law of 
Authority and the correct use of models is not 
hereby depreciated. The following advice of Rey- 
nolds to artists applies as well to those perfecting 
themselves in the arts of speech : 

"Instead of copying the touches of the great masters, 
copy only their conceptions; instead of treading in their 
footsteps, endeavor only to keep the same road. Labor to 
invent on their general principles and way of thinking. 
Possess yourself with their spirit. Consider with your- 
self, * How would a Michael Angelo or a Raphael have 
treated the subject ? ' " 

Beware of a favorite professor's style, is a safe 
and needed rule with most students. A distinguished 
Heidelberg professor, Richard Rothe, used to say 
to his classes, " Do your best to shake iize off from 
you,^^ " He that imitates the Iliad," says Dr. Young, 
" is not imitating Homer." " To copy nature," says 
Pope, " is to copy the ancients." Study all, but slav- 
ishly copy none, is, therefore, a fundamental rule. 

(3) Hence a system of education infringing to 
any considerable extent upon those personal traits (or 
that individual aroma called style) which constitute 
the mysterious charm surrounding all really inde- 
pendent natures, is, apon rhetorical grounds, greatly 
to be deplored. 



STYLE, 127 

The writer must be left free to put his own soul, 
not that of some one else, into his style and produc- 
tion. The only modifications needed are such as 
are dictated by the common sense of humanity. 
One person may need the spur, another the bridle ; 
but neither spur nor bridle is to be used so as to 
destroy naturalness. 

(4) It also follows that naturalness is attained in 
the main, not by working directly for it under the 
direction of the rules of grammar and rhetoric, but 
by developing a pure, honest, and Godlike charac- 
ter, for it is such a character that bitterly hntes cant 
and hypocrisy — the w^orst enemies of naturalness. 

(5) Hence, likewise, it follows that naturalness 
during a given effort, is best attained through un- 
consciousness of self; but such unconsciousness is 
the result of thoroughly mastering the subject and 
of being so intent upon it that all else for the time 
suffers eclipse. Says Goethe in Faust : 

" Seek honest gains without pretence I 

Be not a cymbal-tinkling fool ! 
Sound understanding and good sense 

Speak out with little art or rule ; 
And when you've something earnest to utter, 
Why hunt for words in such a flutter? 

Yes, your discourses, that are so refined, 
In which humanity's poor shreds you frizzle, 

Are unrefreshing as the mist and wind 
That through the withered leaves of autumn whistle." 

Seek naturalness in every effort by avoiding affec- 
tation, is the direction of a writer of note upon the 
subject of language. 



128 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

** Affectation, the desire of seeming to be that which we 
are not, is the besetting sin of men. A plain, simple, un- 
affected manner in speech, in gesture, in carriage, as it is 
one of the most attractive of external qualities, so it is one 
of the most difficult of acquirements ; for in all grades of 
society, from the wigwam to the saloon, the most natura! 
thing in the world is to be unnatural." 

2. Clearness, sometimes termed Transparency, 
or Perspicuity. — Remarks, (i) Mentally it relates to 
correctness of perception ; rhetorically, to the right 
choice and arrangement of words. It is a quality 
which enables the reader or hearer to see thoughts 
without noticing the language with which they are 
clothed. 

(2) Clearness is highly commendable because, 
often laboriously, it seeks to express ideas so as to 
impose upon the reader or hearer, while compre- 
hending them, the least labor possible. 

(3) The importance of clearness has been insisted 
upon by all rhetoricians. Says Quintilian, " Perspi- 
cuity is the chief virtue of eloquence.*' " An ora- 
tor," he again remarks, " should be clear and intel- 
ligible even to hearers who give imperfect attention." 
" Nothing in nature," says Robert South, *' can be 
imagined more absurd, irrational, and contrary to 
the very design and end of speaking, than an obscure 
discourse." '' Speak less learnedly and plainer," is 
a Greek maxim which may be wisely heeded. 

Emerson, following Quintilian, makes clearness 
one of the essential qualities of eloquence. 

** Eloquence is the pbwer to translate a truth into lan- 
guage perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you 



STYLE. 129 

speak. He who would convince the worthy Mr, Dunder- 
head of any truth which Dunderhead does not see, must be 
a master of his art. Declamation is common ; but such 
possession of thought as is here required, such practical 
chemistry as the conversion of a truth written in God's 
language into a truth in Dunderhead's language, is one of 
the most beautiful and cogent weapons that is forged in 
(he shop of the Divine Artificer.' — Letters and Social 
A ims. 

The Corinthian Christians had the special and 
remarkable endowment of tongues ; yet the great 
apostle earnestly warned them againsrt speaking in 
any tongue not understood by their hearers. 

*' So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words 
easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is 
spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. 

*' Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I 
shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that 
speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me." See i Cor. xiv. 
1-19. 

(4) This quality is of prime importance when 
the chief object is the imparting of knowledge. 
Hence certain kinds of address have special claims 
upon clearness, as judicial opinions, expositions of 
doctrine, chronicles of events, text-books of science, 
— all speech, in short, of wdiich the sole purpose is 
to convey information. 

(5) Clearness is violated in two ways, a) By such 

use of language as conveys more meanings than 

one, called ambiguity. A twist in the mind, or 

carelessness in the choice and arrangement of 

words, results in this rhetorical vice. 

b) By such use of language as conveys no mean- 
9* 



180 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

ing whatever, termed unintelligibleness. It is that 
dark, conundrum style, whose only merit is to set 
everybody to wondering. For a specimen, the stu- 
dent is. referred to Browning's Sordello.^ 

(6) Clearness maybe developed and cultivated \\\ 
three ways, a) By constantly practising in heart 
and life the thoughts and ways of honesty and 
frankness. This may be regarded as the surest 
path to greater transparency of style. 

b) By thoroughly mastering a subject before pub- 
lishing it. 

c) By unwearied application of the arts of rhe- 
torical composition. There is no question but these 
arts, without destroying the individuality of any 
writer, will greatly aid him in exchanging ambigu- 
ous, obscure, and inelegant speech for what is clear 
and chastely correct. 

Among these arts are : Revision. Each writer's 
own composition should, first and last, receive rigid 
inspection and revision. Also the test of exferi- 
ment will be of service. Lord Falkland and Thomas 
Scott used to test the intelligibleness of their sen- 
tences by reading them to the ladies of their house- 
holds. Swift read his to the unlearned : if under- 
stood, they were published ; if not, they were cor- 
rected. The practice of translation is likewise 
beneficial. A rhetorical art universally recom- 
mended is the translation of every obscure sentence 
met into one that is perfectly clear. 

One should also study the best models of clear- 
ness. No one in English prose literature, it is 



STYLE. 131 

thought, stands higher as to clearness than Macau- 
lay. Mr. John Mosley, one of Macaulay's severest 
critics, says Macaulay never wrote an obscure sen- 
tence in his life.'*^ 

(6) To render a given ambiguous or unintelligi- 
ble sentence transparent, the following suggestions 
are recommended : 

a) Follow the principles of choice and arrange- 
ment. (Chapters V.,VI.) Especially choose native 
and common English w^ords and phrases instead of 
those which are foreign, technical, or bookish, pro- 
vided the speech is designed to be popular and 
specific. Also group more closely about the subject 
and predicate their respective modifiers, and bring 
nearer together antecedent and relative clauses and 
words. Very often adverbs, prepositions, and rela- 
tives drift so far from their moorings as to lose 
themselves, or make attachments where they do not 
belong. The translation of Acts xxvii. 23 can be 
easily improved. 

^) Break up into short sentences those which, 
owing to their length or involved character, are 
ambiguous or unintelligible. The translation of 
some of Paul's epistles could be thus greatly im- 
oroved. The student may clarify the following : 

** Arrived at his house in Windsor Terrace, "which I no- 
ticed was shabby, like himself, but also, like himself, made 
all the show it could, he presented me to Mrs. Micawber, a 
thin and faded lady, not at all young, who was sitting in 
the parlor, the first floor was altogether unfinished, and the 
blinds were kept down to delude the neighbors, with a babj 
at her breast." — Dickens, 



132 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

c) Resort, when necessary, to repetition and cir- 
cumlocution ; they are neither offensive nor inele- 
gant if employed for purposes of clearness. " Bet- 
ter go clean shod a little way round, than soil 
your feet by taking a ' short cut,' " is wise counsel. 
See Gen. xliv. 22, as an example of correct repe- 
tition. 

" I learned from Macaulay," says a writer in 
T/ie International Revieiv^ " never to be afraid of 
using the same word or name over and over again, 
if by that means anything could be added to clear- 
ness or force. Macaulay never goes on, like some 
writers, talking about ' the former,' and ' the latter,' 
' he,* ' she,' ' it,' ' they,' through clause after clause, 
while his reader has to look back to see which of 
several persons it is that is so darkly referred to. 
No doubt a pronoun, like any other word, may 
often be repeated with advantage, if it is perfectly 
clear who is meant by the pronoun. And with.Ma- 
caulay's pronouns, it is always perfectly clear who 
is meant by them." 

d) Bring each sentence to a close before com- 
mencing another. This is an excellent rule for such 
extemporaneous speakers as are in danger of ob- 
scuring their meaning by involving their sentences. 

3. Simplicity. — Remarks, (i) The word simpli- 
city, restored to its original sense, means '' without 
folds." 

(2) Violations of simplicity are of two classes. 
a) Glittering declamation, a kind of " literary mil- 
linery," having no reputation in thoroughly culti* 



STYLE, 183 

rated circles, and being without excuse when heard 
in public address. 

b) Inflated and stilted expression. This style 
/■eminds one of a short man on tiptoe trying to 
measure up to a taller one. It was Beranger who 
compared pretentious words and phrases to a big, 
bedizened drum-major; and simple expression to 
the little gray-coated Napoleon at Austerlitz. 

(3) Violations of simplicity, whatever the type, 
show either that the mind of the writer is tainted 
with affectation, or else that an effort is making to 
conceal conscious poverty of sentiment under lofti- 
ness of expression. 

(4) The fact that some eminent writers are not 
always simple in expression, leads to the remark 
that it ib rhetorically as wrong to sin with saints as 
with sinners. Dr. Johnson improved in his later 
years, but during a part of his life employed a style 
strikingly inflated. " I bore the diminution of my 
riches without any outrages of sorrow or pusilla- 
nimity of dejection," is a specimen of Dr. Johnson's 
style. Macaulay says of him, that he ''wrote in a 
style in which no one ever made love, quarrelled, 
drove bargains, or even thinks." 

Goldsmith used to say that if Johnson should 
write a fable about minnows, " he would make the 
little fishes talk like whales." Similar to this was 
Macaulay*s criticism upon Tacitus : " He knew how 
to say a fine thing finely, but not a plain thing 
plainly." 

No one is severer in his criticisms upon pompous 
12 



134 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

speech than De Quincey ; yet the following is re- 
ported as among his directions to his cook : 

** Owing to dyspepsia afflicting my system, and the pos- 
sibility of any additional disarrangement of the stomach 
taking place, consequences incalculably distressing would 
arise, so much so, indeed, as to increase nervous irritation, 
and prevent me from attending to matters of overwhelming 
importance, if you do not remember to cut the mutton in 
a diagonal rather than a longitudinal form." 

The cook, a Scotch woman, is said to have had 
great reverence for De Quincey as a man of genius, 
but after these interviews she would say, — 

" Weel, I never heard the like o* that in a' my days ; the 
bodie has an awfu' sicht o' words." 

The following may be given as a specimen ser- 
mon from one who is affected with the passion 
for ambitious display. It may be supposed to have 
for its text, Job xxxviii. 19 : 

"My brethren: The cosmical changes continually oc- 
curring, manifest a concatenation of causes for the multif- 
erous forms that present themselves for meditation and 
study. As we pursue our investigations in the various de- 
partments, we realize more distinctly the ever-present and 
eternal relation of things. Cosmological philosophy de- 
monstrates that force is persistent, and hence is indestruc- 
tible, therefore this indestructibility is grounded upon the 
absolute. To prove this to your entire satisfaction, it is 
only necessary for me to quote the formula : * The absolu- 
t:oid and the abstractoid elementisms of being, echo or 
reappear by analogy within the concretoid elaborismus. 
We reject the theory of the eternity of matter as well as 
the hypothesis of an infinite series, and contend that mat- 



STYLE. 135 

ter in its primoidal condition is but a term in a system of 
causations ; that after illimitable duration passed through 
changes of manifold particularities which have ultimated 
in an endless multiplicity of forms that have produced the 
present complicated condition of things.'" 

The following is a modern version of the twenty- 
third Psalm : 

" Deity is my Pastor, I shall not be indigent. He causeth 
me to recline on verdant lawns : he conducteth me beside 
the rippled liquids. He reinstalleth my spirit : he conduct- 
eth me in the avenues of rectitude, for the celebrity of his 
appellations. Indubitably though I perambulate in the 
glen of sepulchral dormitories, I shall not be perturbed by 
appalling catastrophes : for thou art present, thy tower and 
thy crook insinuate delectation. Thou possessest a reflec- 
tion for me; in the midst of inimitable scrutations, thou 
perfumest my locks with odoriferous unguents ; my chalice 
exuberates. Unquestionably benignity and commiseration 
shall continge all the diuturnity of my vitality, and I will 
eternalize my habitude in the metropolis of nature." 

Every law of speech enforces the statement that 
there is no excuse for such inflated and defective 
style. To speak thus is treason in the realms and 
under the laws of language. The grandest con- 
ceptions beek the simplest speech, and are always 
better thus expressed than otherwise. In all serious 
and earnest discourse also, simplicity is demanded. 
Secular as well as sacred eloquence, therefore, have 
always ranked plainness of speech as of preeminent 
importance. 

(5) As a rule, simple style and plain speech are 
found with the uneducated when freed from afTecta* 



136 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

tion ; also with persons of marked ability, and with 
those of the truest refinement, taste, and culture. 

Daniel Webster sent one of his congressional 
speeches to David Crockett, who in making his 
acknowledgment said, " This is the only speech 
which I have ever read without the need of a dic- 
tionary/' Mr. Webster rightly considered this a 
compliment of the highest order. An old lady once 
travelled several miles to hear Dr. Adam Clarke. 
She was understood to say, on leaving the chapel, 
" I thought Dr. Clarke was a great man ; but I 
could understand everything he said ; I must have 
been mistaken." 

Many years ago the undergraduates of Princeton 
Seminary were in the habit of preaching at a station 
some distance from that place. Among their habit- 
ual hearers was a sincere and humble, but unedu- 
cated Christian slave, called Uncle Sam, who on his 
return home would try to tell his mistress what he 
could remember of the sermon ; but he would al- 
ways complain that the students were too deep and 
learned for him. One day, however, he came home 
in exceedingly good humor, saying that a poor un- 
larnt old man, just like himself, had preached that 
day, who, he supposed, was hardly fit to preach to 
the white people ; but he was glad he came for his 
sake, for he could remember everything he said. 
On inquiry, it was found that Uncle Sam's '' un- 
larnt" old preacher was Rev. Dr. Archibald Alex 
ander, who, when he heard the criticism, said it was 
the highest compliment ever paid his preaclifng. 



ST TLB. 137 

At a late General Assembly, Dr. Allen of Phila- 
delphia, in his speech concerning the freedmen, told 
the following story of himself: 

**I was preaching one day in Tennessee, when an old 
African Methodist brother catne to me after the sermon, 
and said, * I Hke to hear you preach, for I understand your 
preaching.* I repHed, * I am glad of it.' * But I understand 
every word you say.' * I hope so,' I said, * for I try to make 
myself understood.' Again the old man came to the charge. 
' Yes,' he said, ' I understand you jus' as well as if you was 
2i nigger: '' 

Dr. Allen justly thought this a rare compliment. 

" I talked of preaching and of the success which 
those called Methodists have," writes Boswell. '-John- 
son replied, ' Sir, it is owing to their expressing 
themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is 
the only way to do good to the common people.* " 

(6) For models of simplicity, study the writings 
of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Archdeacon Pa- 
ley, and Dean Swift. See also Bunyan, Franklin, 
the prose of Bryant, and especially the Centennial 
Hymn of Whittier. 

The following direction from Falstaff to Pistol, ''If 
thou hast any tidings, prithee deliver them like a 
man of this world,'' is wise. " Leave out all words 
you cannot define. Stop preaching, and talk to folks, 
come down from your stilted ways and sacred tones, 
and become as a little child," is an old preacher's 
S'lvice to his young brethren. Says Coleridge, 
•* If men would only say what they have to say in 
plain terms, how much more eloquent they would 
be ! " '' Think like the wise," says Aristotle, '' but 



138 THE ART OF SPEECH 

speak like the common people." Said the younj^ 
preacher, Erskine Hawes, when dying, '' I wish I 
could live to preach the gospel more simply." 

(7) Simplicity of speech will, nevertheless, test 
the student's courage. '' Simplicity is the last at- 
tainment of progressive literature," says Lord Jef- 
frey, '*• and men are very afraid of being natural, 
from the dread of being taken for ordinary." 

'^ As in dress, furniture, deportment, &c., so also 
in language," writes Whately, " the dread of vul- 
garity, constantly besetting those who are half-con- 
scious that they are in danger of it, drives them into 
the extreme of affected finery." 

Let the student remember, however, that this 
timidity and dread are without excuse ; rhetoric and 
eloquence hate cowardice. If young writers will 
resolve, and execute the resolve, not to construct 
sentences out of inflated or tinsel expressions when 
home-spun Anglo-Saxon is at command, and not to 
use foreign derivatives when native English words 
will serve every purpose, and not to use two words 
when one will do as well, nor a long one when a 
short one will answer, they will be entitled to rare 
credit ; common sense will applaud, and they will 
at length come into possession of a style which shall 
charm alike the illiterate and the learned.^^ 

4. Conciseness, sometimes termed condensation. 
It is a quality opposed to verbosity. 

(i) Note the following examples. Caesar gave 
the history of a whole campaign in three words : 
'' Veni^ vidiy vici^ When the remains of Napo- 



STYLE. 139 

Icon Bonaparte were brought to Paris by the Prince 
de Joinville, the entiie speech-making was this: 
" Sire, I present to you the ashes of Napoleon.*' 
Louis Phihppe answered, " I receive them in the 
name of France.'' Grattan, speaking of his connec- 
tion with Irish independence, said, " I sat by her 
cradle : I followed her hearse." 

" We must fight." '' Let it come," said Patrick 
Henry. " We have met the enemy, and they are 
ours," was General Grant's announcement. See 
also Gen. v. 24. 

(2) Note the following rules and suggestions. 
'' Oratory abhors lengthiness," is a maxim of the 
School of Oratory. Says Bishop Morris, '' Conden- 
sation is a very important thing in a minister. Have 
something to say, say it, and quit when you are 
done." Spurgeon says, sharply, that '' it is a hid- 
eous gift to possess to be able to say nothing at 
extreme length." 

Hesiod's rule was briefly this : '' A half is better 
than the whole." Milton, in harmony with this di- 
rection, often reduced a given number of lines to 
one half. 

Phocion, whom Demosthenes so dreaded in de- 
bate, being asked in the theatre why he was looking 
so thoughtful, replied, '' I am considering how to 
retrench something in a speech I am about to make 
to the people." 

'' The words of a preacher," says Dr. Dwight, 
*' should be those of a guilty man to guilty men ; of 
a dying man to dying men ; of a man who humbly 



140 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

hopes he has found pardon for himself, and is most 
affectionately anxious that his hearers may find the 
same blessing." If this is correct, how can prolixity 
and verboseness in the pulpit be pardoned? ''Bus- 
iness," says Hogarth, " is transacted in straight and 
plain lines." 

The following incident is illustrative of the impa- 
tience often felt by an audience under excessive at- 
tenuation in the pulpit, though the preacher does 
not always have the benefit of the needed rebuke. 

A minister, noted for prolixity of style, was once 
preaching before the inmates of a lunatic asylum. 
In one of his illustrations he painted the scene of a 
man condemned to be hung, but reprieved under the 
gallows. He went on to describe the gathering of 
the crowd, the bringing out of the prisoner, his re- 
marks under the gallows, the appearance of the 
executioner, the adjustment of the halter, the prep- 
aration to let fall the platform, and just then the 
appearance in the distance of the dust-covered 
courier, the jaded horses, the waving liandkerchief, 
the commotion in the crowd. At this thrilling 
point, when every one was listening in breathless 
silence for the climax, the doctor became painfully 
prolix. One of the lunatics, who could endure the 
torture no longer, arose in the congregation and 
shouted, " Hurry, doctor ; for God's sake, hurry ! 
They'll hang the man before we get there ! " 

(3) Violations of conciseness must be guarded 
against with special care, as they are quite likely to 
escape an author's notice. Dr. Johnson, speaking 



STYLE. 141 

of the so-termed " fatal fault of tedlousness," 
sa3s: 

*' Unhappily, this pernicious failure is that which an au- 
thor is least able to discover. We are seldom tiresome to 
ourselves; and the act of composition fills and delights the 
mind with change of language and succession of images ; 
every couplet when produced is new, and novelty is the 
great source of pleasure. Perhaps no man ever thought a 
line superfluous when he first wrote it, or contracted his 
work till his ebullitions of invention had subsided." 

(4) In a given instance conciseness is secured 
through four distinct steps, a) By thinking defi- 
nitely, h) By having a clearly defined purpose, 
which, if based upon deep moral convictions, will 
be all the better for rhetorical ends, c) By fixing 
especial attention upon the cardinal points of the 
subject under consideration, d) By the application 
of those rules of rhetorical art which seek for the 
utmost closeness and condensation, and by habitually 
working out from sentences, in harmony with the 
laws of Economy and Selection, all inapt and use- 
less words, until only those which are precise and 
significant remain.'*'' 

These rules are at war with tazttology^ the need- 
less repetition of a thought. For example : 

Let observation^ with extensive vieiv^ 
Survey mankind from China to Peru. 

They conflict likewise with redunda7icy^ the ad- 
dition of useless words. For example : 

They returned back again to the city from whence thejr 
came forth. 



142 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

(5) The following restrictive suggestions should 
be observed : a) Conciseness must not violate the 
rules of clearness. h) The laws of Harmony, 
Beauty, and Variety rnay allow copiousness, though 
not verbosity, in parts of a discourse of considerable 
length, in order that the condensation of other parts 
may be the more highly appreciated, c) Concise- 
ness, while permitting sharp antithesis and epi- 
grammatic point and brilliancy, does not allow that 
splendor of imagery and that amplitude and mag- 
nificence of statement sometimes demanded. Lan- 
dor, therefore, correctly remarks that, — 

*' It is silly to argue that we gain ground by shortening 
on all occasio7is the syllables of a sentence. Haifa minute, 
if indeed so much is requisite, is well spent in clearness, in 
fulness, and pleasurableness of expression, and in engaging 
the ear to carry a message to the understanding." 

See also, Law of Economy^ and Principles of 
Arrangement^ pp. 46. 80. 

5. Force. This quality is called Vivacity by Dr. 
Campbell, Energy by Dr. Whately, and Strength 
by Professor Bain. It will be discussed further on, 
under Eloquence and Orato7y^ Vol. II. 

6. Pertinency. It is the use of such methods and 
materials as perfectly answer the object in view. 
The statement and illustration of the preceding laws 
and rules, especially those under Definiteness, Har- 
mony, and Selection, leave, respecting Pertinency, 
nothing additional that need oe said. 

7. Variety. Professor Shepard's direction is clear 
and comprehensive : " Let there now be startling 



STYLE. 143 

roughness, now a gleam of beauty, and anon a little 
rhetorical and mental galvanism." See Law of 
Variation and Contrast^ P* 57* 

8. Beauty or Elegance. This quality is fully 
stated and recommended under the Law of Beauty^ 
p, 6i. 

A restrictive remark may be of service, that beauty 
of expression must sometimes be sacrificed to pre- 
cision and force. 

"Uniform elegance, though accompanied by uni- 
form force," says Professor Hill, " soon cloys on the 
mind and even on the ear ; and sometimes the only 
way of reviving the interest seems to be by the use 
of a vigorous expression which is positively inele- 
gant." 

///. Cultivation of Style, 

Nearly all who have been distinguished in litera- 
ture or oratory have made, for our encouragement, 
the generous confession that their attainments have 
been reached through patient and laborious industry. 
They have declared that speaking and writing, 
though once difficult for them, have become well- 
nigh recreations. In words similar to those of Pro- 
fessor Shepard we are often told that any person 
^' can work off from his style roughness, when a 
smooth surface would be the most effective, and 
put on a polish that shall flash and attract. He can 
take the wind out of the too swollen and bombastic, 
and bring it down to a decent and comely simplicity. 
The rigid and hard-moving joints he can change to 
an easy and quick flexibility. His bluntest and 



144 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

squarest sentences he can forge to a point, if a point 
they should have, as infalhbly as the blacksmith can 
hammer his iron to that form. And if more heat 
is wanted in the mass, he can blow it in." 

1. General statement. 

The laws and rules thus far laid down furnish 
ample foundation for the general statement that an 
easy and natural expression, an exact verbal in- 
carnation of one's thinking, together with the power 
of using appropriate figures, and of making nice 
discriminations between approximate synonyms, each 
being an important factor in correct style, are attained 
in two ways. (i) Through moral and mental 
discipline. (3) Through continuous and intimate 
acquaintance with such authors as best exemplify 
those attainments. 

2. Specific statements. 

(i) The laws of Naturalness and Development 
show that the basis of style is in the character o^ 
the speaker or writer, and must be evolved from i*^. 
(2) The law of Authority suggests that the student 
should make choice of the best companions. '' Evil 
communications corrupt good manners," and good 
style. '' To write well," says Dryden, " one must 
have frequent habitudes with the best company." 
The Gracchi, it is said, were indebted to their 
mother's conversation for their correct and elegant 
speaking. All children, however, are not fortunate 
enough to have a Corneha for their mother. 

But the books read, as well as the conversation 
heard and used, have much to do in the development 



STYLE. 145 

of style. A person cannot read a single pernicious 
book without mental injury, nor even a single book 
of a poor style without having his own style vitiated. 
The student cannot, therefore, overestimate the im- 
portance of making a judicious choice and use of 
literary models. 

As to what books constitute the most excellent 
English models, we have for our guidance, fortu- 
nately, the matured judgment of centuries. The 
admirable idiomatic style of John Bunyan, the purity 
of Addison, the exactness of Coleridge, the clearness 
and fluency of Charlotte Bronte, the plasticity of 
Hawthorne, the simplicity of Wordsworth and 
Whittier, the force of William Pitt, the massiveness 
of Webster, are highly commended. 

'• Cowley, with the omission of a quaintness here 
and there," says Coleridge, " is probably the best 
model of style for modern imitation in general." 

The dramas of Shakspeare and the text of the 
English Bible are preeminent, in the judgment of 
all critics, as models for the English-speaking 
tongue. They are majestic without pretence, sim- 
ple but not feeble, powerful without exertion, and 
commanding but not assumptive. It should ever be 
borne in mind that in proportion as a person studies 
the English text of the Bible, will his style free itself 
from impurities, and take on many, if not most, of 
the required excellences. " Intense study of the 
Bible," Coleridge justly remarks, *'will keep any 
writer from being vulgar in point of style." 

(3) The law of Automatic Movement requires 
10* 13 



146 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

that, if one would command at a given time a fault- 
less style, every faculty of the mind and even every 
muscle and nerve of the body must be brought under 
discipline and be kept in healthy use. 

(4) The Psychological law commands that there 
shall be righteous thinking and acting if one would 
gain perfection in style. If, for instance, one would 
acquire greater definiteness, he must seek it chiefly 
through increased sincerity and strength of convic- 
tion. Thus also of other qualities. 

(5) The law of Needful Practice requires one 
who would master a correct style to be ever writing 
and speaking. To learn to write, keep writing ; to 
learn to speak, keep speaking, is a rule that knov/s 
scarcely an exception. 



FIGURES, 147 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Figures. 

Every idea, at the moment ii passes fully into 
ihe field of consciousness, is found to have its pecu- 
liarities. Likewise, therefore, every sentence, includ- 
ing the materials appropriate to it, has a tendency to- 
wards some peculiar and appropriate verbal expres- 
sion, as different kinds of matter take different shapes ; 
the mica material, for instance, never crystallizes as 
the quartz material, nor the quartz as the garnet. 
It follows, therefore, grammatically and rhetorically, 
that each idea and each verbal expression have their 
well-marked idiosyncrasies. 

The discussion and classification of ideas, as re- 
lated to speech, belong properly to the metaphysics 
of rhetoric ; we therefore omit their treatment in 
this connection. 

The different types of verbal expression, however, 
fall properly within the province of this treatise, 
and their discussion is next in order. The treatment 
of this topic subdivides it into : — 

/. Figures of Words, 
Grammar and rhetoric define these figures to be 
designed and artistic deviations from the ordinary 



148 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

form, construction, or application of words or sen- 
tences. They are classified thus : 

I. Figures of Etymology, or deviations from the 
ordinary forin of a word. They are subdivided 
into : 

(i) Aphseresis, the omission of a letter or syllable 
from the begin7iing of a word ; as, ^gainst^ ^gan^ 
for against^ began, 

(2) Syncope, the taking out of a letter or syllable 
from the middle of a word ; as, 6>Vr, e^er^ lov'd^ for 
over^ ever^ loved, 

(3) Apocope, the cutting off of a letter or syllable 
from the e7zd of a word ; as, th\ tJio\ for the^ 
though. 

(4) Prosthesis, the prefixing of a letter or sylla- 
ble to a word ; as, (3:dovvn, enchain^ for dow7Zy 
chain. 

(5) Paragoge, the suffixi^tg of a letter or syllable 
to a word ; as, without^;^, bound^;^, for without^ 
bound. 

(6) Synaeresis, the contracting of two syllables 
into one ; as, thouWt^ His^ for thou art^ it is. 

(7) Diaeresis, the separating of two vowels which 
otherwise might form a diphthong ; as, coordinate., 
zoology. 

(8) Tmesis, the separating of a compound word 
by inserting a word between its parts ; as, to us 
zvard^ for, toward us ; on which side soever we 
turn, for, on whichsoever side we turn. 

In brief, therefore, figures of etymology consist 
either in a defect^ an excess^ or a cha7tge iu some 
of the elements of a word. 



FIGURES, 149 

2. Figures of Syntax, or deviations from the or- 
dinary construction of a sentence. They are classi- 
fied thus : 

(i) Ellipsis, the omission, for rhetorical effect, 
of a word, phrase, or clause, which is necessary to 
complete the grammatical construction of a sen- 
tence ; as, — 

He seemed as [he would seem] if [he were] deranged. 

There are some who write, [and who] talk, [and who1 
think so much about vice and [about] virtue, that thev 
have no time to practise either the one or the other. 

For further illustration, see Law of Economy^ p. 46. 

(2) Pleonasm, the use, for rhetorical effect, of 
more words than are necessary to complete the 
grammatical construction of a sentence ; as, — 

Verily^ verily^ I say unto you, all j^e inhabitants of the 
world, and dwellers on the earth. 

(3) Enallage, the change of one word or of one 
part of speech for another ; as, — 

They fall successive\\y\^ and successive\\y'\ rise. We^ 
Alexander, Emperor of Russia. 

Here the plural number is used for the singular. 

(4) Hyperbaton, the transposition of words ; as, — 

While its song rolls the woods along, 

3. Figures of Rhetoric. 

Under this head are usually grouped Figures of 
Poetry, such as 7netaphor^ shjzile^ comparison^ alle- 
gory^ parable^ fable ; also Figures of Poetic Prose, 
such as metonyfny^ trope^ personiji cation,, aposiro' 
p/ie^ hyperbole^ oxymoron, irony^ nzimeration^ ah 



150 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

lusio7i^ indicatio7i^ supposition^ parody^ soliloquy^ 
and dialogue ; together with Figures of Oratory, 
such as visio?ty prediciioii^ a?zthesis^ specification 
if details^ rhetorical repetition^ climax^ and inter- 
rogation. In this treatise these different figures are 
distributed to the chapters under which they legiti- 
mately fall. 

//. Rules goveriiing the Use of Figurative 
Speech, 

The three fundamental principles underlying this 
class of rules are : Firsts Figurative speech is used 
in order the more effectually to persuade. 

Second^ It is used for purposes of elucidation ; and, 

Thirds after persuasion and elucidation are 
sought, then for purposes of elegance. 

The specific rules may be grouped negatively and 
positively thus : 

I. Negative Rules. 

(i) Figurative speech is not to be used for its 
own sake, nor merely to increase the elegance of. 
rhetorical composition. *' Every figure, however 
beautiful," says Qtiintilian, '' unless it tend to gain the 
cause, is superfluous.'* Figures may therefore be 
used to give lustre to thoughts, but not to give lustre 
to language. There are writers who have an ear 
foi brilliancy of sentences, as others have an ear for 
measures or numbers. Such persons are to guard 
their speech, lest brilliancy merely dazzle and music 
end in jingle : the picture and the music are to be 
used as the ostrich uses his wings — for guidance, 



FIGURES. 151 

not for show. If the student is guilty of using a 
figure for its own sake, or merely for embellishment, 
let him three times put his pen through it. 

(2) Excess in the use of figurative speech is to be 
avoided. Profusion is in danger of defeating the 
legitimate design of figurative representation ; it 
smothers where the intention is to illuminate. Ex- 
cess, likewise, results in nausea. A rose, or even a 
rosebud, on every shrub and branch, makes one tire 
of roses and sigh for even a plain leaf or a stark and 
gnarled branch. Excess takes two forms : 

a) The carrying of a given figure too far. To 
crowd a comparison, for instance, with minute cir- 
cumstances, leads to obscurity and weakness. Arthur 
Helps gives the following description of the city of 
Mexico : 

** Like some rare woman of choicest parentage, the de- 
scendant of two royal houses far apart, who joins the soft, 
subtle, graceful beauty of the south to the fair, blue-eyed, 
blushing beauty of the north, and sits enthroned in the 
heart of all beholders, so sat Mexico upon the waters, 
with a diadem of gleaming towers, a fairy expanse of flow- 
ery meadows on her breast, a circle of mountains as her 
zone, and, not unwomanlike, rejoicing in the reflection of 
her beautiful self from the innumerable mirrors which 
were framed by her streets, her courts, her palaces, and 
her temples.' 

Where is the city of Mexico ? The fair eyes and 
arms have captured both it and us. 

b) The crowding of too many distinct illustrations 
upon a given idea. The following is taken from a 
Fourth of July oration : 



152 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

** The marble- hearted marauder might seize the throne 
of civil authority, and hurl into thraldom the votaries of 
national liberty. Crash after crash would be heard in 
quick succession, as the strong pillars of the republic give 
way, and despotism would shout in hellish triumph among 
the crumbling ruins. Anarchy would wave her bloody 
sceptre over the devoted land, and the bloodhounds of civil 
war would lap the gore of our most worthy citizens. The 
shrieks of women and the screams of children would be 
drowned amid the clash of swords and the cannon's peal ; 
and Liberty, mantling her face from the horrid scene, 
would slumber in inevitable and eternal oblivion, or spread 
her golden-tinted pinions and wing her flight to some far- 
distant land, never again to revisit our peaceful shores." 

The marble-hearted marauders, the falling of the 
pillars of liberty, the bloody sceptres, the blood- 
hounds, and the flight to other climes, cast the pic- 
ture into oblivion. Such passages are properly 
termed " the copiousness of bombast." 

Excess is especially objectionable when the thought 
illustrated is either unimportant or well understood. 
Excess, it must also be remembered, should be 
guarded against in proportion to the earnestness 
of the address. Elaboration of figures tends to re- 
tard movement and to destroy enthusiasm. Hence, 
in flights of oratory, illustrations which are charac- 
terized by rapidity, freshness, and surprise, are of 
peculiarly striking merit and charm. Therefore, 
often touch the picture and leave it, trusting that the 
aroused mental faculties of the auditors will com- 
plete it. Guard against excess by adhering to the 
metaphysical law of spontaneity and to the rhetorical 
laws of rigid aptness and strict propriety. 



FIGURES, 153 

(3) Mixed, and to a certain extent complex, fig- 
urative speech is to be avoided. If the mixed is ever 
allowable, the case must be extraordinary, as, in a 
few rare instances, art employs for symbols winged 
lions and centaurs. Mixed figures usually defeat 
the chief object of figurative expression ; they con- 
fuse rather than enlighten. 

The following Irish address will be regarded as 
mixed and disorderly : 

** Gentlemen, the apple of discord has been thrown into 
our midst; and if it be not nipped in the bud, it will burst 
into a conflagration which will deluge the world." 

Addison's rule is, to test figures by reducing them 
to complete mental pictures. 

2. Positive Laws. 

(i) Spontaneity is the most available safeguard 
against a false, and is the surer path to a correct, 
use of figurative speech, Theremin, in his Elo- 
quence a Virtue^ thus happily expresses this 
thought : 

** The so-called rhetorical figures must not be taken to 
denote mere ornaments coldly and artificially contrived to 
set off the discourse, but lively movements in thought and 
language, prompted hy the imagination under the guidance 
of rhetorical affection." 

(2) The picture, In proportion to its vividness, 
should reflect an harmonious light chiefly upon the 
leading idea of the discourse. There is one central 
light in every perfect sentence or discourse ; all illus- 
trations must add to its intensity. 

George Whitefield once compared the case of a 



f 



154 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

sinner, while groping in sin, to that of a blind man 
led by a little dog fastened to him by a string. The 
string broke at last, and the man, left to grope his 
way alone, came to the verge of a precipice ; he 
put out his staff, it fell over the edge. He, suppos- 
ing it had fallen on level ground, and stooping to 
pick it up, fell down the steep. This illustration 
was presented with such effect that Chesterfield, who 
was in the congregation, springing from his seat, 
exclaimed, " Good God, he is gone ! *' 

Whether such powerful impressions would better 
be made depends largely upon the question of their 
compliance with the law before us. If the impres- 
sion is not in strict harmony with the main idea 
of the discourse, then a mistake is made, and such 
illustrations will appear, upon reflection, to be ex- 
crescences."*^ 

(3) The terms of all word pictures should be in 
strict harmony with the ideas illustrated, not differ- 
ing in kind, and neither falling below nor rising 
above them. A clergyman, preaching a funeral 
sermon while the corpse lay before him, exclaimed, 
'' Here, brethren, we have before us a living 'witness 
and a standing monument of the frailty of human 
hopes ! " A theological student is guilty of the fol- 
lowing ; 

" As the diamonds in the hilt of the assasst7is ctagger 
light up the passage for the blade, so the divine tllumtna- 
Uojis oflove, radiating from the Spirit of Jehovah, brighten 
the pathway of the soul in its onward march to glory." 

In these two instances there is want of harmony 
in kind. 



FIGURES. 155 

Aristotle is in error while thus describing govern- 
ments : 

** Every form of government, by being relaxed or strained 
too much, destroys itself. Thus a democracy, not only 
when relaxed, but even when overstrained, grows weaker, 
and so will at last be changed into an oligarchy. Just as 
hookedness or flatness of the nose not only approaches the 
mean in proportion as it relaxes from the excess, but also 
when it becomes excessively hooked or flat, disposes the 
nostrils in such a way as no longer to resemble the nasal 
organ." 

This figure is not only obscure, but falls far beneath 
the dignity of the subject. 

The following illustrates the use of figures which 
are above the dignity of the thought presented : 

"As the winged lightnings leap from the heavens when 
the thunderbolts are loosed — so does a little boy run when 
a big dog is after him." 

An apparent and allowable exception to this rule 
occurs when rhetorical art is resorted to for the pur- 
pose of elevating or degrading a given object. Sev- 
eral agreeable illustrations, by the law of association 
will change the aspect of an object otherwise disa- 
greeable. Milton often succeeds admirably in this 
kind of embellishment. 

The opposite, that of rhetorically degrading an 
object by the use of debasing illustrations, requires 
great care in the choice of terms. The nauseous 
and extremely ugly will react and attach themselves 
permanently, perhaps, to the speaker. See Henry 
IV., Part II., Act i. Sc. iii. 

(4) The terms employed should be well knowa 



156 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

To attempt the illustration of a thought in popular 
address by references to arts, sciences, books, places, 
historic events, and the like, which are but imperfectly 
known, is a grave rhetorical fault. Macaulay is 
sometimes open to criticism under this rule. He 
speaks of " fountains more wonderful than the waters 
of Paiezade," of " conveyances more rapid than the 
hippogriff of Ruggiero," of* arms more formidable 
than the lance of Astolpho," of " remedies more 
efficacious than the balsam of Frerabras." 

In harmony with this principle, the use of familiar 
and home-like terms is recommended. Mr. Beecher 
is almost without a peer in this respect. The follow- 
ing, in which a supposed thoroughly equipped and 
conceited theological student is set forth, is sugges- 
tive : 

** Did you ever see a dandy fisherman ? He has the cor- 
rect suit on, his pole is a beauty from Conroy's, his line is 
of the best gut, his book is full of artificial flies, — plenty of 
artificial flies, — his fish-basket hangs behind him ; and he is 
a fisherman. May be. Let us go to the stream. Standing 
with a knowing air, he throws his fly; but the fish do not 
rise at it; and he throws again, and again they do not rise. 
And all the while, a barefooted, coatless boy on the other 
side of the brook is catching fish as fast as he can pull them 
in. He has just a rough hook on a bit of string, and a 
worm for bait, but he gets the fishy 

It should be borne in mind that, in proper tion to 
the familiarity of the terms employed, and pictures 
presented, there must be accuracy ; the fisherman 
or blacksmith may smile at the preache 's or the 
lecturer's ignorance. 



FIGURES. 157 

(5) The terms employed, other things equal, 
should represent the species rather than the genus. 
The intensity of the picture and the consequent in- 
terest in it are thereby increased. ^' The more gen- 
eral the terms are, the picture is the fainter ; the 
more special they are, the brighter." — Campbell, 

Everything sounds well^ is general and forceless. 
Nature is vocal^ is more specific. Nature is vocal 
with the song of birds^ is still more specific. In 
the morning hour was heard the screech of the 
peacock^ the whistle of the plover,, the cooing of 
doves^ and the twitter of the barn-swallow^ is by 
far the most vivid and forcible, because the most 
specific. In Exodus xv. 10, the words fall and 
fnetal,^ if substituted for sank and lead^ w^ould be 
faint and tame. See Micah vii. 19 ; Mai. iii. 3 ; 
Matt. V. 13, 14; ix. 30; Luke xii. 27, 28. In this 
last passage, the substitution o'i flowers for lilies^ 
develop for grow,, they have no employment^ for 
toil not and spin not,, and King for Solomon,^ would 
render insipid one of the most pleasing pictures and 
illustrations in the New Testament. 

This same principle requires the use of a famous 
name in place of some characteristic quality. He 
is a Solomon,, or a Croesus^ ox a Judas,, or an Ar- 
nold,, is more forcible than the corresponding terms, 
wise man^ rich fnan,, or a traitor. '' A Daniel 
come to judgment ! " '' Some village Hampden,'* 
and Mark viii. 33, are familiar illustrations. 

Again, the principle here involved requires that 

a part, other things equal, would better be used than 
U 



158 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

the whole; as hands when used for men; sazl^ foi 
ship; roofs^ for houses; the bar^ the bottle^ the 
fen^ and the swords in place of the literal expres- 
sions for which these terms are employed. 

(6) The terms employed, other things equal, 
would better represent objects animate than inani- 
mate. Offspring of the brain^ is better for the 
purposes of poetic representation than product of 
the brain; thirsty ground^ than dry ground; 
mother earthy than earth; learned age ^ than age 
of learning ; fool^ than folly; and foe^ than hos- 
tility. See Gen. v. 22 ; Num. xxxiii. 55 ; Prov. 
XXV. 2 ; Jer. xiii. 23 ; Matt, xxiii. 14, translating 
oikias^ families ; Acts ix. 5. 

The same principle requires the use of terms de- 
noting objects in motion or movable rather than 
those which are immovable ; as, — 

** Man! 
Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear." 

(7) If the resemblance between the figure and 
the object is too strong, it may appear ludicrous ; if 
too faint, the mind is fatigued while attempting to 
trace the analogies. 

(8) Resemblances are to be instituted between 
objects of a different kind, and contrasts between 
those of the same kind. See Figures of Analogy 
and ^ Antithesis^ Vol. II. 

(9) Figures appropriate in one place, or upon a 
given occasion, are often objectionable elsewhere. 
That which may be becoming on the street, or upon 
the platform, may ill become the pulpit. 



FIGURES. 159 

(lo) Some kinds of discourse allow of a free use 
of figures ; other kinds call for a sparing use. The 
first thirty-one chapters of Deuteronomy, made up 
of historical and explanatory discourses, have but 
few illustrations ; chapter xxxii., entitled " Song of 
Moses," has a figure in nearly every verse. The 
prophetical books, and those of David and Solomon, 
are packed with figures. 

(ii) Whenever the speaker discovers that the 
figure employed is either too bold, or is dispropor- 
tionate or misplaced, it can be greatly softened and 
the error can be partly corrected, by saying, so to 
speak^ or, as it were; though the necessity requir- 
ing such qualification should not often occur. 

We may conclude, therefore, — inasmuch as all 
people delight in poetical representation, and as 
one's taste and culture are so quickly betrayed by 
the way he uses figurative language, and as it is so 
easy to be " grotesque in the effort to be striking 
and graphic, and to pass over the line from what is 
simply refined and elegant in illustration to that 
which is far-fetched and finical," — that the student 
cannot overestimate the importance of mastering the 
laws and rules governing the use if figurative 
speech. 



160 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



CHAPTER IX. 
Poetic Speech. 

In harmony with the principle ah'eady announced, 
certain classes of ideas naturally shape themselves 
into what is termed poetic speech. The early bal- 
lads of almost every countr}^, the Iliad ^ Inferno ^ 
Paradise Lost^ and some of the dramas of Shaks- 
peare, are in their nature poetic rather than frosaic. 
The ideas involved are essentially elevated, impas- 
sioned, and imaginative. " Poetry," says Hazlitt, 
" is the language of the imagination." 

But still further, the forms in which poetic thoughts 
naturally shape themselves are peculiar. There is 
demanded, for instance, a rhythm, an enlarged vo- 
cabulary, also license in both the use of words and 
the construction of sentences. In a word, poetry is 
the science and art of putting the productions of the 
imagination into figurative and measured or bal- 
anced speech.**^ The following divisions will aid in 
mastering this topic. 

/. The Relative Importance of Poetic 

Representation. 

This mode is more pleasing to the average mind, 

und may be more effective than any other.^ The 

presented picture produces instantly a definite e^ 



POETIC SPEECH. 161 

feet ; whereas both time and conscious mental effort 
on the part of the hearei are more likely to be re- 
quiied to produce the same effect by other modes of 
representation. 

The language of poetry is also pleasing and effec- 
tive because directed to the senses ; metaphorical 
language, the most common, is chiefly directed to 
the sight, the keenest of all senses ; hence the vivid- 
ness and effectiveness of such language. The boy 
studies a text-book on geography, and hates every- 
thing connected with the sea and land. He listens 
some evening to a picture-story presented by a re- 
turned sailor, and that night runs away to sea. The 
same effect may be produced by a picture hanging 
on the wall. A son abandoned his home for the 
sea ; a friend was called to comfort the mother, but 
said, "Your son had not run away had not that 
beautiful picture of sea-life been your parlor decora- 
tion. Remove it, lest the other boys also go to sea." 
It has been said that if heaven is to operate upon 
us, it must be picturable by us. 

Whenever, therefore, the aim is to make a thought 
especially brilliant or distinct, or to produce an im- 
pression long to be remembered, there is resort in- 
stinctively to the use of poetic representation. A 
forcible figure flashes truth upon the heart with the 
conviction of a resistless argument. The mental 
faculties of the speaker or writer during the picture- 
producing moments are aroused ; poetry is said to 
be " the highest eloquence of passion ;" hence, from 
mental sympathy the corresponding faculties of the 
11* 



162 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

liearer will likewise be aroused. This is one of the 
conquests of eloquence. The picture produced at 
the cost of mental animation or transport, when 
presented to others, will tend to reproduce what it 
originally cost, namely, animation or transport. 
Hence, men who sleep through other parts of the 
sermon or address, are wide awake when the meta- 
phor appears. 

For the reasons involved in these statements, like- 
wise because the picture-producing faculties are the 
earliest developed and the busiest with the mass of 
people, also because everything in popular speech 
is originally metaphoric, seen especially in the for- 
mation of words, and from the sanction derived from 
the use of figurative language in the Scriptures, there 
can be no question as to the relative importance of 
the poetic mode of representation. 

//. Classification of Poetic Speech; Rhetorical 
Form* 

Keeping in mind the essential characteristic of 
poetic representation, namely, that it abounds in 
imaginative scenes, and that, either by reason of 
the stimulation of the faculties, or by reason of the 
balance between the figurative and the literal ob- 
jects, or upon the ground of both these reasons, 
it takes naturally and easily to rhythm and measure, 
we are prepared to classify the different types of 
poetic representation. 

I. Parallelism. This is of high antiquity, and 
prevailed among the Hebrews. An idea is ex« 



POETIC SPEECH. 163 

pressed, and then is balanced by its repetition in 
modified form ; as in Psalm xix. i ; xxiv. 3. 

2. Alliteration. The balance of alliteration, as 
seen in early Teutonic poetry, consists in giving 
similar initial sounds to emphatic words or syllables, 
two of which were generally in one line, and one 
in the line which followed. At present alliteration 
applies, without regard to order, to the recurrence 
of initial letters. 

*' The /loughman homeward /lods his weary way." 
*'The winds in wonder wist." 

See The Vision coiicerning Piers the Plowman, 
Also, Matt. xi. 28. 

3. Accented Metres. The measure is indicated 
in this instance by the regular recurrence of ac- 
cented syllables ; as, — 

Ah me', how quick' the days' are flit'ting. 

Accented metres are subdivided, according to the 
measure w^hich predominates, into the following : 

(i) The Iambic, consisting of a short and a long 
syllable, and taking consequently the accent on the 
^ccond^ fourth^ sixths &c. syllable; as, — 

The cur' | few tolls' | the knell' | of' part' | ing day " 

(2) Trochaic, consisting of a long and a short 
syllable, and taking consequently the accent on the 
first.^ thirds Jifth^ &c. syllable ; as, — 

Night' and | morn'ing | were at | meet'ing | o'ver | 
Wa'ter | loo. 



164 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

(3) Anapaestic, consisting of two short syllables 
and one long one, taking consequently the accent on 
every third syllable ; as, — 

May I go' I vern my pas' | sions with ab' | solute sway . 

(4) Dactylic, consisting of one long syllable and 
two short ones, having consequently an accented 
syllable followed by two w^hich are unaccented ; 
as, — 

Hail' to the | Chief who in | tri'umph ad | van'ces! 
Hon'or'd and | bless'd' be the | ev'er-green | fine ! 

(5) Mixed. The foregoing principal accented 
measures, by their intermixture with one another, 
and by the admission of secondary measures, are 
capable of numerous variations ; as, — 

From peak | to peak' | the rat'- | tling crags' | among',''^^ 
Leafs^ the \ live^ thun-' \ der! not' | from one' | lone cloud'. 

///. Classification of Poetic Speech ; Subject- 
Matter. 

I. Epic Poems. They narrate national or mytho- 
logical events of great importance, and celebrate, 
usually, the actions of distinguished men or heroes. 
The Iliad^ yEneid^ JerMsalein Delivered^ and 
Paradise Lost are of this class. 

Under epic poetry fall : (i) Metrical Romances, 
which recount stories of heroism and love ; such 
are some of the poems of Scott and Byron. (2) Bal- 



POETIC SPEECH. 165 

lads, which differ only in their brevity from the 
Romance. They abound in the early literature of 
Spain, England, and Scotland. (3) Tales, such as 
Longfellow's Evangeline and Tennyson's Princess. 

2. Lyric Poems. They express, briefly, the indi- 
vidual emotions of the poet. Anacreon, Pindar, 
Sappho, and Horace are noted ancient lyric poets. 
Colli ns's Ode to the Passions^ and Alexander* s 
Feast^ by Dryden, are examples in English poetry. 

Lyric poems are subdivided into: (i) Songs, sec- 
ular and religious ; such as America.^ God Save 
the ^ueen^ and The Ninety and Nine, (2) Odes, 
which are similar to songs, except that they are not 
designed for singing. Wordsworth's Ode to Im- 
mortality is an example. (3) Elegies, or odes of 
lamentation, such as Gray's Elegy, (4) Sonnets, 
being brief poems usually completed in fourteen 
lines. The sonnets of Petrarch, Tasso, Spenser, 
Shakspeare, Milton, and Wordsworth, are the best 
known. 

3. Dramatic Poems. They are such representa- 
tions of human life as are adapted to the stage ; they 
are divided into, (i) Tragedies, termed "the strug- 
gles of individuals against destiny," and (2) Come- 
dies, which may be termed representations of the 
ludicrous phases of human existence. Shakspeare's 
plays are dramatic poems, including both tragedy 
and comed3\ 

4. Didactic Poems. They are designed to incul- 
cate the truths of science or morals. Lucretius's 
Nature of Things and Pope's Essay on Man are 
of this class. 



166 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

5. Pastoral Poems. They have for their subjects 
nature, agricultural pursuits, or rural life. The Idyls 
of Theocritus and the Eclogues and Bucolics of 
Virgil belong to this class. 

6. Satirical Poems. They are designed to expose 
the vices and follies of society and individuals. The 
Satires of Juvenal and Horace, and of Dryden, Pope, 
and Byron, are well-known examples. 

7. Epigrams. They are brief poems of a witty 
or humorous character. 

8. Epitaphs are usually short poems, in praise of 
the virtues of the departed.^^ 

IV. Classification of Figures belonging to Poetic 
Speech, 

It should not be inferred that the following figures 
are the exclusive possession of poetic speech ; they 
will be found abounding in many kinds of prose. 
But they are termed figures of poetic speech because 
they more easily fulfil the conditions of poetry than 
do other kinds of figures. They are word-pictures 
so painted as to fall easily under some form of ac- 
cented metre. They are classified as follow b . 

I. Metaphor. It is an imaginative picture, whose 
qualities or features are supposed to be well known, 
and the sudden transference of that picture to 
something whose qualities or features are supposed 
not to be well known, the direct purpose being to 
light up those qualities and features. 

Hence Lord Kames says : " A metaphor is an act 
of the imaginat'on figuring one thing to be another.' 



POETIC SPEECH, 167 

Cicero says, *' it is a kind of borrowing." The 
qualities which render speakers popular and dis- 
tinguished lead to a frequent use of the metaphor. 
Demosthenes rarely employed the simile, but often 
the metaphor. It is admitted that the metaphor is 
natural to the highest flights of oratory, which are 
usually poetic. Longinus, in his treatise on the 
sublime, says : " The proper time for metaphor is 
when the passions are so swelled as to hurry on like 
a torrent.*' 

The student may explain why the following figures 
are metaphors : 

** Man}' a preacher is the undertaker of the subject he 
undertakes." 

Father Taylor, in a sermon before the sailors, 
after picturing a ship driving on to the lee shore, 
suddenly exclaimed : 

** But what do I see yonder? Through the mist I see it. 
That flash of lightning has shown it to me — a life-boat I 
a Hfe-boat! — Christ is that life-boat." 

Jeremy Taylor, at the funeral of an accomplished 
and pious lady, said : 

** Her heart was a passion-flower, bearing within it the 
crown of thorns and the cross of Christ." 

** Athens, the eye of Greece." — Milton. 

** Language is the amber in which a thousand precious 
thoughts have been safely imbedded and preserved." — 
Trench » 

** Stvle is the gossamer on which the seeds of truth flof.t 
through the world." — Bancroft, 
'* Ink is the Black Sea on which thought rides at anchor.' 

*' God is not a democrat — he is a King." — Morris, 



168 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

Examine the following passages : Gen. x. ; xlix, 
9, 21, 23; Job iv. 19; xxi. 9; xxxi. 24; Ps. xvii. 
S; Matt V. 13, 14; xvi. 18, 19; xxiii. 33; Luke 
xiii. 32; xxii. 19; John viii. 12; x. 9; xv. 1,5; 
Acts xiii. 10; 2 Cor. v. i ; i Tim. vi. 19; 2 Tim. 
iv. 7 ; Heb. xii. 29 ; i John iv. 8. Let the student 
add to this list such as occur to him. 

Explain w^hy analogies and epithets are meta- 
phorical. 

2. Simile. It is in several respects a metaphor, 
toned dov^n by a sign of comparison. The existing 
object, the imaginary object, and the consequent 
balance between the two, together with the actual 
or potential rhythm, bring this figure as well as 
the metaphor into the field of poetic representation. 
There is this difference, however, between the met- 
aphor and the simile : The metaphor makes one 
thing re^oresent another ; the simile compares one 
thing with another. The simile is, therefore, a brief 
episode, the literal object and the imaginary one 
being kept distinct. The metaphor and simile are 
easily convertible the one into the other. To the 
following Scriptural illustrations others may be 
added: Job v. 26; vi. 15; vii. 9; viii. 11-15; ix. 
25 ; Ps. i. 3, 4 ; xc. 4, 5, 9 ; cxxxiii. 1-3 ; Jer. xxxi. 
12; Isa. i. 18; Iv. 10, 11; Ixvi. 12; Matt. xi. 16; 
xxiv. 27 ; John viii. 55. 

3. Comparison. It is essentially a simile, though 
usually more extended ; the two members are not 
so neatly and perfectly balanced as in the simile. 
The distinction between the simile and comparison 



POETIC SPEECH. 169 

is not, however, merely mechanical, but rests upon 
the fundamental principle that the simile involves 
either an analogy, as, " Time is like an auctioneer," 
or a comparison of similarity, as, " He is like his 
father ; " while the comparison strictly refers to 
equality, superiority, or inferiority. 

The student may classify the following figures : 

They (the Myrmidons) rushed to battle like thirsty 
wolves to a spring. — Homer, 

The smallest children are nearest to God, as the smallest 
planets are nearest the sun. — yean Paul Richter, 

For a woman to love some men, is like casting a flowei 
into a sepulchre. — Haivihorne. 

The holy (evening) time, as quiet as a nun, 
Breathless with adoration. — Wordsvjorth. 

God puts our prayers, like rose-leaves, between the 
leaves of his book of remembrance, and when the volume 
is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance spring- 
ing from them. — Sturgeon. 

The tidings of President Lincoln's death travelled around 
the world like the shadow of an eclipse. — Emerson, 

*' You can no more compose a true sermon while you are 
copying another man's style, than you can swim while a 
drowning man is grasping your limbs." 

Go and teach all nations. Consult neither the course 
of rivers nor the direction of mountain ranges. Go straight 
on; go as the thunder goes of Him who sends you, as the 
creative word went which carried life into chaos; as the 
eagles go, and the angels. — Lacordaire. 

See also, Matt. vii. 24-27 ; Ezek. xv. 1-8. 
The following remarks as to the use of metaphors, 
limiles, and comparisons, are fundamental : 
15 



170 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

(i) In calm conversation, and in the plainei 
p.TvDse descriptions, similes and comparisons are 
usually out of place ; their illumination is not 
needed, they are too ornamental for the occasion, 
and the person employing them seems tainted with 
affectation. But in very animated conversation these 
figures are allowed. (2) Metaphor, especially, and 
simile when very brief and vivid, belong to the more 
impassioned address ; comparison to that which is 
calmer. (3) Inasmuch as a powerful orator is sup- 
posed to be dignified and self-poised even amid his 
outbursts of passion or grief, he is allowed to show 
his self-control by violating the foregoing principle. 

4. Allegory. It is essentially an extended meta- 
phor, but differs from it in several respects, especially 
in this, that the author requires each hearer or reader 
to make for himself the application or transference 
of the imagined picture to the literal object. 

Dr. Carson thus distinguishes between the alle- 
gory and metaphor : 

(i) Allegory presents to immediate view the secondary 
object only; metaphor always presents the principal also. 
(2) Metaphor always imagines one thing to be another; 
allegory never. (3) Everything asserted in the allegory 
applies to the secondary object; everything asserted in the 
metaphor applies to the principal. (4) In the metaphor 
there is but one meaning; in the allegory there are two, 
\ literal and a figurative. (5) Allegory is a veil ; metaphoi 
is a perspective glass. 

The Greeks, according to Cicero, called the con 
currence of several metaphors an a.'legory. Bengel 



I 



POETIC SPEECH. 171 

thinks that when a speaker carries a single illustra- 
tion through an entire discourse, or even division, 
he thereby allegorizes ; as, for example, John vi. 
32-58, (though here is given the explanation.) Like 
hieroglyphic paintings, an allegory presents one 
picture, but is designed to suggest another. An 
allegory, being a continued allusion (literally, a 
'' speaking another thing,") has its imaginary and 
its literal objects, and consequently its conversion 
into metaphor or comparison is both possible and 
simple. A Christian is a pilgrim, is the whole 
of Bunyan's allegory reduced to a metaphor. A 
Christian is like a pilgrim, is the allegory and met- 
aphor reduced to a simile. 

The suggestiveness of the allegory and the pleas- 
ure felt while making the discovery and application 
intended by the author, give to this species of rep- 
resentation its peculiar charm. The merit of an 
allegory, other things equal, is in proportion to the 
strength of the analogies. Some of the more per- 
fect specimens in the English lanrjuage are : House 
of Fa7ne^ Chaucer; Faerie ^ueene^ Spenser; PiU 
grim's Progress^ John Bunyan ; The Disco7itented 
Pendulum ; New Tear^ Richter ; Celestial Rail- 
road., Hawthorne ; ^ueene Mab., Shakspeare ; ///// 
of Science.^ Dr. Johnson ; Vision of Mirza., Addi- 
son. Ps. xviii. ; xxx. 8-12; Is. v. 5-8, are some- 
times classed among allegories. 

5. Parable. It is essentially a short allegory, 
with moral intent ; it consequently has all the ele- 
^Tfients of poetic representation. It may be based 



172 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

in part upon historic or existing facts, or be puiely 
imaginary. The design is to teach some moral truth ; 
sometimes the specific design is- announced, some- 
times easily inferred, sometimes exceedingly obscure. 
A lengthy parable requires the didactic style of com- 
position and delivery. Short parables may appear 
in the more animated forms of discourse, in which 
also a series of brief parables may be effectually 
employed to throw a vivid light upon a given divi- 
sion or thought of the discourse. See the six para- 
bles in Luke xv. and xvi., and the eight in Matt. xiii. 
Tholuck, in one of his sermons, while illustrating 
the woe of being too late to enter heaven, employs, 
in rapid succession, three parables : one in which a 
father is represented as a moment too late to save his 
child from a burning building ; another where a son 
reaches home just too late to receive a dying father's 
forgiveness ; and the third where pardon comes a 
moment after execution. This accumulation of 
parabolic illustrations was a favorite method with 
Burke. It should be borne in mind, however, that 
in impassioned eloquence no formality is allowed 
while introducing parables. If the parable is found 
to be too cold and formal for the address for which 
it was intended, it may easily be converted into 
some of the preceding specimens of representation. 
Our Lord frequently introduced his parables by the 
sign of comparison. They may also be condensed 
into proverbs. Cardinal Wiseman, from the prov- 
erb in Luke iv. 23, unfolds the involved parable. 
The maxims in the Book of Proverbs rcre recom- 



POETIC SPEECH. 173 

mended to the student as germs from which to con- 
struct useful parables. 

Parables are employed with great advantage in 
presenting unwelcome truths. See Matt. xxi. 45 ; 
Luke XX. 19. 

The following examples are illustrative of the 
practical use that can be made of parables : 

Certain Hindoos said to a missionary, after he 
had preached a forcible sermon on the malignity 
of Satan, '^ Satan ought to be punished and men 
let go free." The missionary replied, '^ Some men 
with rifles were standing on the banks of the Ganges 
as a vessel with women and children on board was 
passing down the river. A malignant stranger came 
up to the men and persuaded them to fire on the 
vessel. They consented, eagerly seized their rifles, 
and killed several of the women and children. The 
government put the stranger to death and the men 
too." 

Spurgeon once introduced the following admira 
ble parable into a funeral sermon : 

** A certain nobleman had a spacious garden which he 
left to the care of a faithful servant, whose delight it was 
,0 trail the creepers along the trellis, to water the seeds in 
time of drought, to support the stalks of the tender plants, 
and to do every work which could render the garden a par- 
adise of flowers. One morning the servant rose with joy, 
expecting to tend his beloved flowers, and hoping to find 
his favorites increased in beauty. To his surprise, he 
found one of his choicest beauties rent from the stem. 
Full of grief and anger, he hurried to his fellow-servants 
and demanded who had robbed him of his treasure. They 



174 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

had not done it, and he did not charge them with it; but 
he found no solace for his grief till one of them remarked, 
* My lord was walking in the garden this morning, and I 
saw him pluck the flower ar.d carrj^ it away.* Then, truly, 
the gardener found he had no cause for his trouble. He 
felt that it was well his master had been pleased to take 
his own; and he went away smiling at his loss, because his 
lord had taken delight in the flowers." 

See Judges ix. 7-21 ; 2 Sam. xii. 1-6. See Trench 
on The Parables, The frequency with which the 
Master used this dexterous and weighty kind of 
speech will justify its more common appearance in 
modern popular and pulpit address. 

6. Fable. It is essentially the same as the para- 
ble. The name of Jesus, however, is so associated 
with parables, and that of -^sop with fables, that 
the distinction between the two figures has come to 
seem very broad. Comparing the world's fables 
with the Christian parables, it will appear that often 
in the fable, but rarely in the parable, are the attri- 
butes of humanity given to brutes ; in the fable, rail- 
lery is frequently indulged in, but not in the parable ; 
thus, also, prudential rather than religious truths 
are exemplified in the fable. yEsop is the master 
of fables. Demosthenes sometimes employed them, 
(see '' Fable of Sheep, Dogs, and Wolf,'* in Plu- 
iarcJis Lives., article on Demosthenes.) In the 
calmer forms of sacred eloquence, especially in an 
address to children, the fable can be profitably in- 
troduced. 



POETIC SPEECH, 175 

V, Art of acquiring Skill i?i the Use of Poetic 

Speech, 
To the principles found under Laws XIL, XIIL, 
and XIV., pp. 64-67, and the directions given under 
(ultivation of Style^ p. 143, there need be added 
out two rules for acquiring skill in poetic represen- 
tation. 

1. Cultivate figure-making habitudes. This is 
done by asking the spiritual import of every physi- 
cal object seen (Rom. i. 19, 20) ; also by forming 
the habit of constantly metaphorlzlng. Knock at 
the door of anything met which interests, and ask. 
Who lives here? The process is to look, then close 
the eyes, then look within. Emerson, Spurgeon, 
and many others, carry blank booU^ in which they 
note on the spot anything of a character to furnish 
an illustration. 

In this figure-making drill, carry out all the mi- 
nutest details of the picture ; though this is rarely 
to be done before an audience, except in certain 
parts of the picture. 

2. Store the mind with information. To produce 
a mental picture from natural objects, one must 
have an acquaintance with such objects. Objects 
of sight are the most fruitful. An increase of such 
information is like enlarging one's vocabulary. 
Strict scientific analysis of natural objects may also 
be of service. To one who understands the chem- 
ical properties of h'ght, the announcement, '* I am 



176 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

the Light of the world" (John viii. 12) presents a 
picture both evangeHzing and grand.^^ 

'' Science," says Macaulay, '' is admirably fitted 
to give majestic contributions to poetic representa- 
tions." Modern scientific works are extremely sug- 
gestive, such as those of Darwin and Huxley, 
Dawson and the Duke of Argyll. 



PROSE SPEECH. \r 



CFIAPTER X. 

Prose Speech. 

Prose Speech is used in ordinary conversation, 
sad forms the basis of all didactic and oratoric ad- 
dress. It is treated under the following topics : 

/. Classijicatio7t in Prose Speech; Rhetorical 

For7n, 
I. Narration. It is the representation of a suc- 
cession of events observed in the order of their oc- 
currence. It deals with facts, and includes more 
departments of literature than any other class of 
rhetorical composition. Rarely is a speech of any 
great length heard, in which narration is wanting. 
Note the constant recurrence of narration in the 
speeches and orations of Demosthenes, Cicero, 
Burke, Pitt, Webster, and Everett. When the 
orator would move to tears, he neither employs 
syllogisms nor challenges admiration through ora- 
t )ry, but simply narrates a pathetic anecdote. Sucli 
leal or parabolic narrations as the Prodigal Son or 
Good Samaritan, elicit both tears and resolves to 
go and do better, as no demonstration or argumen- 
tation could do. 

The following diiections may be of service: 
12* 



178 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

(i) Narration should be unfolded in order of time 
(2) It should be such as to bring objects vividly 
before the mind of the one addressed. (3) The 
rule of art is to place the principal objects in the 
strongest light possible. (4) Important matters 
should be brought out in fulness of detail. Hence 
the rule to select the important and then carefully 
specify t4ie details immediately involved. (5) Un- 
important matters should be unnoticed, or be merely 
touched upon. (6) The development of the narra- 
tive throughout should be such in spoken address 
as not to interfere with oratorical effectiveness. 

Eor examples under these rules, see Demosthenes 
071 the Crown^ (beginning, " What commotion 
there v^as in the city") ; Everett's Hist, Oratzo?is ; 
the various New Testament narrations, such as those 
of the Young Ruler, Woman of Samaria, and Sy- 
rophoenician Woman. See also King" Lear^ Act iii. 
Sc. II., Lear's second speech ; and in Sc. vi., Lear's 
eighth speech ; Hamlet^ Act i. Sc. i. ; i Sam. ii. 19 ; 
2 Sam. xii. 34 ; xiv. 7, 14 ; Zech. viii. 5 ; Matt, 
xxiv. 17, 18 ; XXV. 35~44 ; Luke xi. 5-8 ; xiv. 18-20, 
31 ; xvi. 24; xvii. 34-36 ; Acts v. 35-39 ; vii. ; xiii. 
13, etc. ; xxvi.^^ 

That narration is classified under Prose Speech 
does not exclude its use in poetry. See all popular 
ballad poetry. 

2. Description. It is the representation of events 
or things observed at a given point of time. It is 
sometimes defined as a " shortened narration." De- 
scription is used for the purpose of generating or 



PROSE SPEECH, 179 

intensifying belief or emotion by definitely placing 
before the mind persons, places, or things. The 
description is poetic if the subject is imaginary; it 
is biographic if some character is delineated ; it is 
historic or narrative, so far as past events are de- 
scribed. Description is more difficult than narra- 
tion, inasmuch as closer and more philosophic ob- 
servation is required. Often, in the same composition, 
narration and description are combined. The fol- 
lowing rules are to be observed : 

(i) The absurdities of an over-heated imagination 
are to be guarded against. A preacher recently 
spoke of the sad procession attending the funeral 
of Abel. (2) Description, like narration, must be 
minute as to essentials, but brief, rapid, or silent as 
to non-essentials. (3) Description must be so man- 
aged as to contribute to oratorical effect ; hence the 
rule : In proportion to minuteness of essentials vv^ill 
be the intensity, and consequently the effectiveness, 
of the description. 

For examples illustrating these rules, see Curran's 
Speeches ; Saurin's Sermons ; Sterne's Sentifnental 
jfourney (the description of a captive) ; Victor 
Hugo's Ninety-Three (the meeting of Robespierre, 
Danton, and Murat) ; Joseph's interview's with his 
brethren ; description of natural objects in the Book 
of Job ; and John's descriptions of Heaven. 

3. Exposition. Its aim is to give information 
through a statement and discussion of facts and 
principles. Essays, epistles, editorial articles, in a 
word, the discussion of theories and principles, be- 



ISO THE ART OF SPEECH. 

long to this kind of composition. Under exposition 
are classed : (i) The statement of existing facts and 
opinions. These are presented usually for the pur- 
pose of imparting information ; hence, the unadorned 
speech and didactic style are appropriate ; the style 
changes, however, when the end in view is ora- 
toric effect. (2) Definition. '^Definition," says 
Cicero, ''is a short and concise specification of 
whatever properly belongs to the thing which we 
define." Locke says it " is nothing but making 
another understand by words what the term defined 
stands for." Definition requires attention to the 
following directions : 

a) There should be no forced effort at novelty or 
profundity. 

h) There are certain subjects so subtile that their 
exclusion from the popular address is demanded 
upon the ground that they can be neither intelli- 
gently defined nor critically analyzed, 

c) Definition should not be negative when it can 
be affirmative. 

d) It should not contain the term which is defined, 
otherwise there would be repetition, not definition. 

e) Nor should it contain terms which are no bet- 
ter understood than the term defined.^ 

y) Exact definition should be adequate, i. e., re- 
count fully the attributes of what is defined. 

g) In popular address, definition may take the 
cratoric form, and be given with as much feeling as 
the case will admit. 

K) The Bible logically defines very little. 



PROSE SPEECH, 181 

t) The better forms of definition for popular 
speech are the poetic and descriptive. A metaphor, 
for instance, is a poetic definition. (See examples 
under Metaphor,) For examples of descriptiv^e 
definitions, see Paul's description of " Charity," 
I Cor. xiii. ; of "Faith," in Hebrews xi. ; and our 
Lord's definition of " Duty to our Neighbor," Luke 
X. 30-37. 

(3) Analysis. It is a process of dissection, the 
effort being to find the mother-idea by removing 
everything contingent and accidental. The rules to 
be observed are essentially the same as those relating 
to definition. 

4. Maxims or Proverbs. They are said to be 
" the wit of one, the wisdom of many." They are 
also called the philosophy of the common people. 
They have probably been produced spontaneously ; 
a prevailing thought, suddenly crystallizing upon 
somebody's tongue, becomes a proverb with a verbal 
and vital embodiment so perfect that no improve- 
ment seems possible. Tribes which have no written 
literature, either poetry or prose, are often rich in 
maxims or proverbs, 

Maxims should conform to the following rules : 

(i) They should be manifest conclusions or in- 
ductions from a large number of facts belonging to 
a given class. (2) They should contain a truth 
which is both valuable and practical. (3) They 
should be expressed in such terms as are in common 
use among common people. (4) And in such terms 
that they will strike and cleave to the memory. 
16 



182 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Hence alliteration and antithesis well befit this 
class of composition. Vox populi^ vox Dei ; Man 
proposes^ God disposes ; Penny wise^ pound fool- 
ish^ are illustrative. See also many of the proverbs 
of Solomon ; likewise certain passages in Job. 

The other recognized varieties of prose composi- 
tion, such as letters^ diaries.^ news, editorials, re- 
views, essays, treatises, travels, jiction, history, 
and speeches, call for no specific statement or direc- 
tion. 

//. The Importance of Purity and Correctness 
in Ordinary Speech, 

The integrity of the English language in America 
is threatened by the influx of foreigners, by the care- 
less and inflated style of newspaper reporters, and 
by various other forms of sensational literature. 
Every educated person should, therefore, place him- 
self as a breakwater. He should seek to give purity 
of tone to the speech of the community in which he 
lives. Inaccuracies and inelegances are contagious. 

The pulpit especially should be pure and correct. 
The speech heard from the pulpit is quickly re- 
peated by the pew. " Like priest, like people." 
Thus the purities and proprieties of pulpit speech 
will be found healthfully infusing themselves into 
the expressions of the boy at his play, of the black- 
smith at his forge, and of the farmer at his plough. 

It is likewise admitted that the relations existing 
between thought and speech, also between morals 
and speech, are so intimate that any impurity or im 



PROSE SPEECH. 183 

propriety in the one quickly taints the other. The 
public speaker, therefore, who resolutely expunges, 
in the family, on the street, at the political meet- 
ing, on the platform and in the pulpit, every ex- 
pression which savors of impurity, inaccuracy, or 
slang, and who seeks constantly the language of 
a cultivated gentleman, is, upon these grounds, a 
public benefactor. 



184 THE ART OF SPEECH, 



CHAPTER XI. 
Poetic-Prose Speech. 

An attempt at classification in any department of 
knowledge finds varieties which belong partly under 
one recognized species and partly under another. 
For illustration : Rhetoric has its province, so has 
Mental Science ; but there are many topics which 
are found upon the border-land between the two. 
Thus, likewise, classification in the Art of Speech 
discovers many varieties which fall partly under 
Poetic, and partly under Prose representation, and 
lead to a new grouping, which is properly termed 
Prose- Poetry^ or Poetic- Prose Speech, 

The sub-topics belonging to this chapter are : 

/. Distinction between Poetic-Prose and the 
I^orms of Speech already discussed. 

We have seen that pure poetic speech is largely 
metaphorical. The illustration previously em- 
ployed, Pilgrin^s Progress,, has sufficiently estab- 
lishecl this principle. That is, as Bunyan originally 
published his work, it was correctly termed an 
allegory. The Christian is a pilgrim^ is that alle- 
gory reduced to a metaphor. The Christian is 
like a pilgrim,^ is a metaphor converted to a simile. 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 185 

But the phrase, The pilgrim Christian^ belongs to 
neither of the pure poetic forms of speech ; nor is it 
ordinary prose. It answers in part, and only in part, 
the conditions of these two great families of speech. 
It is, for instance, poetic in conception. Should the 
word filgrim be followed by a pause, an image 
will be presented to the mind, at least, of any one 
who can define the word, or who has seen a pil- 
grim. When the sentence is completed, then the 
qualities of that imagined pilgrim are transferred to 
the Christian. Thus far the speech fulfils two con- 
ditions of pure poetry, namely, picture-making and 
metaphorizing. But the construction of the sentence 
IS not poetic ; there is no tendency to measure or 
rhythm. 

Further examination of the illustration before us 
discloses other distinctions which may be stated thus : 
Both poetic and prose speech use terms in their or- 
dinary sense ; but poetic-prose often uses terms in 
other than their ordinary sense. In the sentence, The 
Christian is a pilgrim^ there is nothing but plain 
statement, involving only the ordinary use of words. 
The pilgrijn Christian involves a special use of the 
word pilgri?n. It is made either a compound noun 
with Christian^ or is converted from a noun to an 
adjective or adjective-noun. Again, pure poetic 
speech seeks to discover or institute resemblances ; 
but poetic-prose speech may, and often does, utterly 
disregard resemblances. 

In general such speech as abounds with imagina- 
tive but unmetred expressions is properly classed 



186 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

under poetic-prose composition. Mitchells Astro* 
no??iical Lectures ?ind Everett's Historical Orations 
are representative. 

//. Class ijicat ion of Figures belonging to Poetic" 
Prose SpeecJi, 

I. The use of one noun for another, called Me^ 
tonymy. Between seventy and eighty varieties of 
this figure, including their contraries, have already 
been discovered and specified. A few of the more 
important are the following : 

(i) The name of the cause used for that of the 
effect; as, "Have you YQ^id Longfellow?'^ See 
also Luke xvi. 27-3 1. Detect the figure, and ex- 
plain why, probably, our Lord employed it. 

(2) The name of the effect used for that of the 
cause. Thus the scientist says, ^''Nature produces 
all changes in the physical universe ; " he means, 
of course, the Cause^ or the Author of nature. See 
also Gen. xxxi. 53 ; 2 Kings iv. 40 ; Rev. i. 12. 

(3) The name of a place used for the name of the 
inhabitant ; as, " The songs of HeavenV See like- 
wise. Matt. X. 11-14; Rev. iii. 10. 

(4) The name of that which contains, used for 
what is contained ; as, " The kettle boils ; ** " He 
smokes his fipe; " '' Your purse or your life." See 
also Luke xx. 11, 20. 

(5) The voice used for the speaker. vSee John i. 
23 ; Rev. i. 12. 

(6) The name of the instrument used for the one 
who employs it ; as, '' In this day bayonets think ; " 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH, 187 

'* The fen is the grand civilizer ; " " In war the 
bullet^ in peace the ballot rules ; " and Isa. xiii. i8. 

(7) The name of a symbol used for what is sym- 
boHzed ; as, "As the cross advances, the crescent 
retires." See also i Kings xii. 10-14. 

(8) The name of one served used for the service 
rendered. See Phil. i. 21. 

(9) The name of a tempter or a leader used for 
the one tempted or led. See Matt. xvi. 19, 23 ; 
xviii. 18. 

(10) The name of one class of loved objects ap- 
plied to another class of loved objects. See Mark 
iii. 31-35. This is a favorite figure with both De- 
mosthenes and Paul. 

(11) The name of the whole put for a part, and 
the reverse. The importance and frequent use of 
this variety of metonymy has secured for it the 
technical name synecdoche, ''A maid of seventeen 
summers was carried to the tomb ; " " The snows 
of seventy winters whitened his head ; '* Mark xvi 
15; Acts xxiv. 5; Rom. i. 8 ; 2 Peter iii. 6 (.?) 
(whole for a part) ; Gen. i. 5, 8 ; iii. 19 ; Matt. viii. 
8 ; Acts xxvii. 37 (part for the whole), are illustra- 
tions of this figure. 

(12) The name of experiences ascribed to God, 
which properly belong to man, called Anthropofa- 
thy. It is a figure usually brought into use when 
Deity is alluded to in ordinary discourse, in prayer, 
or in the Scriptures. See 2 Chron. xvi. 9 ; 2 Sam. 
xxii. 9 (comp. Ps. xviii. 8) ; Job x. 8 ; xi. 8 ; xiii. 26 ; 
Ps. viii. 3 ; civ. 3 ; Ixxxix. 13 ; Hab. iii. 5 ; Rev. xx. 2, 



188 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

2. The use of an adjective in other than its ordi« 
nary sense, properly termed Trope.^ 

When an adjective is turned from an object to 
which it naturally belongs, and is applied to another 
object whose special relations and connections allow 
such change and application, there results this dis- 
tinctive type of poetic-prose speech. Of the manv 
varieties enumerated we specify the following : 

(i) An adjective describing some person or thing 
affected, applied to the person or thing producing 
the effect ; and the reverse; as, ''^Blushing' honors ;" 
" Giddy brink ; " "A bold discovery ; " '' A daring 
wound ; " ''^ Merry bells." 

(2) An adjective belonging to a subject, applied 
to some part or parts of that subject; as, ^^ Longing 
arms ; " '' Willing feet ; " " An i7npatient hand.*' 

(3) An adjective belonging to an agent, applied 
to the instrument used by that agent; as, ^^ Coward 
swords ; " " The cannon's deadly rattle." " I have 
seen a fan so very angry that it would have been 
dangerous for the absent lover to have come within 
the wind of it." — Addison, 

(4) An adjective belonging to one object, applied 
to another object, the two having some associated 
or apparent relation ; as, " Fond roof; " "Drooping 
chair; "''Fearless ship;" " Ripe October;" ''The 
genial sunshine ; " " The starry Galileo ; " " Breezy 
summit ; " " Melancholy darkness." 

3. Such a use of the verb as converts an object 
mto a subject. " The smell of the rose is sweet," is 
pure and correct prose. " The rose smells sweet," 



POETIC- ROSE SPEECH, 189 

when regarded as pure prose, is condemned ; but 
when viewed as poetic-prose, is as defensible as 
either nietoiiymy or trope, " The sun looks pleas- 
ant," '^ The apple tastes sweet," regarded as poetic- 
prose, are not, therefore, inaccuracies in English 
speech. 

4. Such a framing and application of sentences 
as bring before the mind an image not involved in 
an exact and direct prose statement. The following 
varieties illustrate this mode of speech : 

(i) Such a use of language as attributes person- 
ality to abstract qualities and to things inanimate, 
and as attributes human intelligence to animal life, 
technically termed Perso7iiJication. It is in every 
tongue one of the earliest and most common forms 
of expression. Certain characteristics of English 
speech, especially its genders, make personification 
peculiarly easy and graceful. Its frequency is based 
upon the psychological principle that the human 
soul longs for society, and under certain conditions 
will convert all sorts of objects into companions or 
personalities. When the passions are aroused, per- 
sonified speech is instinctively resorted to. The 
child kicking the stone which trips him, and the 
man cursing the hammer with which his finger is 
bruised, in that moment of passion attach to these 
objects personality and even responsibility. Thus, 
likewise, when the gentler passions and emotions 
are excited, the personification of an object of inter- 
est or love naturally follows. 

Personification admits of three degrrees of inten- 



190 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

sity : a) When abstract qualities and inanimate ob- 
iects are represented as having life ; as, — 

" Then Ire came in, with strut and strife; 
His hand was aye upon his knife." 

Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins, — Dunbar, 

Sir Walter Raleigh calls flowers the " pretty 
daughters of the Earth and Sun." Peel speaks of the 
lightning as " faire spouse of thunder." Tennyson 
represents haste as " the half-sister of delay ; " and 
^schylus speaks of a certain dangerous harbor as 
'' the step-mother of ships." '' Cruel disease," 
" Winged winds," '' Pitiless storm," and " Thirsty 
ground," are expressions belonging to this type of 
personification. Hence, objects of affection, such 
as pets, and objects of gentle qualities, are femi- 
nized; " The ship," " The moon," and articles of 
personal property, being designated by the pronoun 
she. On the other hand, objects of an imposing 
character, and those of real or supposed hostility, 
are masculinized, 

h) When abstract qualities and inanimate objects 
are represented as acting ; as, — 

** But look! the moon, in russet mantle clad, 
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill." 
". . . • As when old Ocean roars, 
And heaves huge surges to the trembling shonis." 
** France goes to war for an idea." 

c) When abstract qualities and inanimate objects 
are represented as having human intelligence ; as, — 

** The Pyramids, doting with age, have forgotten the 
names of their founders." — Fuller, 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 191 

**The sword of Gaul trembles at his side, and longs to 
glitter in his hand." — Osstan. 

** Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles.'* 

Milton, 

For other examples of personification, see Alcestis,^ 
Act II. Sc. I. ; Richard IL Act iii. Sc. ii. ; Julius 
Ccesar^ Act iii. Sc. iv. ; Gen. iv. lo ; Job v. i6 ; Xc 
17; xiv. 7; xviii. 15, 16; xviii. 13, 14; xxvii. 21 , 
xxviii. 14-22 ; xxxi. 38 ; Ps. cvii. 42 ; Jer. xlvii. 6 ; 
Ez. xxxvi. i-io ; Mich. vi. 1,2; Hab. iii. 10 ; Zech. 
xiii. 7 ; Matt. v. 3 ; vi. 3 ; Heb. xii. 24 ; Rev. vi. 8. 

Reasoning from the philosophical basis of this 
mode of speech, it is evident that the propriety of 
introducing it into rhetorical composition depends 
upon the excitement of the passions or emotions. 
Hence, likewise, for the correct use of this figure, 
the mind of the hearer or reader needs by previous 
steps to receive a kind of preparation. Therefore, 
not in the introduction, but as a rule only when the 
speech is well under way, can personification be 
safely employed. 

It may be remarked further that the perfection of 
this figure depends upon the worthiness of the ob- 
ject personified, and upon the healthy activity of the 
imaginative faculties; failure by reason of defective 
imagination or taste, converts an attempted person- 
ification into burlesque. 

It will prove a profitable task for the student to 
add to the foregoing examples such personifications 
as he meets with, and such as he can recall or invent. 

(3) A use of language involving direct address to 



192 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

an absent or dead person who is imagined to be 
present, or to an inanimate object which is first per- 
sonified ; these forms of speech are technically 
termed Apostrophe, The same general principles 
govern the use of both this figure and that of per- 
sonification. Burns's Mary in Heaven^ CampbelFs 
Pleasures of Hope ^ beginning, '' Roll on ye stars ; " 
Ossian's Address to the Sun^ " O thou that rulest," 
&c., are excellent examples. See also "'-AlPs well 
that ends well^' Act iii. Sc. iv. The figure like- 
wise abounds in Milton's Lycidas^ and in Tenny- 
son's In Memoriam, See also Gen. xlix. iS ; Neh. 
vi. 9; Job xvi. 18; xvii. 14; Prov. vii. 4; Matt, 
xxiii. 37. 

(3) Vision. It is the representation of past or 
absent scenes as if actually taking place in the 
speaker's presence. See Vol. II., Figures of Or- 
atory, 

(4) Prediction. It is the act of describing or 
foretelling events which are yet in the future. See 
Vol. II., Figures of Oratory, 

(5) Such a use of language as presents an object 
magnified or diminished beyond the literal truth, 
technically termed Hyperbole, This figure springs 
from enthusiasm, and when correctly employed 
is a truthful statement of one's feelings, though 
strictly speaking a false verbal representation of the 
exact facts in the case. It may be almost consid- 
ered a fourth degree of comparison ; thus, positive^ 
comparative,^ superlative,, and hyperbolic. If 
the earnestness and enthusiasm are manifest, this 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH, 193 

mode of speech, being the instinctive expression of 
excited feelings, will not produce a false impres- 
sion. 

The hyperbole upon the lips of a calm person, 
while perfectly calm, is falsehood. Hence, the 
minds of both speaker and hearer must be fully 
prepared before using this figure. It would be a 
mistake also to apply hyperbole to objects which are 
familiar or ordinary. Those persons most familiar 
with and who the most highly respect nature, rarely 
hyperbolize her. In their judgment she needs and 
allows no exaggeration. Most people are more suc- 
cessful with the magnifying than with the diminish- 
ing hyperbole. The chief difficulty in the use of 
this figure is to know at what point to stop so that 
it shall not seem strained. Rhetorical taste, a sound 
judgment, and correct moral intention are brought 
into requisition. The perfection of hyperbole re- 
quires also choice words, and as few as the possi- 
bilities of correct expression allow. Note the nat- 
uralness of this figure in such current expressions as 
the following : " There is no end to this talk ; " 
'Til be there in less than no tim.e;" "Your most 
obedient servant ; " " She will cry her eyes out." 
See Henry VL Part I. Act i. Sc. i. ; and Hood's 
Letters to Children, Hood speaks of a night so 
fearful that a Christian farmer would not have left 
out his scare-crow ; and of a man so benevolent 
that he would hold an umbrella over a duck during 
A shower of rain. See Charles Lamb's Extracts 
from the Elizabethan Dramatists* 
13* 17 



194 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

** Here once the embattied farmers stood, 
And fired the shot heard round the world." 

Emerson. 
**If a 3'oung merchant fails, men sa/, he is ruined,''* 

See also Gen. xiii. i6 ; Deut, i. 28; ix. i; Num. 
xiii. 33 ; Ezek. 11. 9 ; Job xx. 6, 7 ; xxxli. 4-6 ; Matt, 
iii. 3, 9 ; xix. 24 ; xxiii. 24 ; Luke xix. 40, 44 ; John 
iv. 21, 29 ; xxi. 25 ; Gal. iv. 14, 15. 

(6) A usage which unites words having contrary 
significations, for the purpose of gaining greater 
vividness of impression ; " it is the saying of that 
which appears foolish, but yet is wise," technically 
termed Oxymoron, Horace speaks of" a strenuous 
idleness;" Benjonson, of " the liquid marble " of 
poetry. Robertson, 4th series, p. 163, speaks of a 
'' most terrible success." Tennyson says : 
** A deedful life ; a silent voice." 

The child says, " I love both father and mother best." 
George Macdonald says, ''Jesus is more man than 
any man." Bush says, " The French have shown 
themselves the greatest architects of ruin that have 
hitherto existed in the world." " Do you believe in 
ghosts?" asked a lady of Coleridge. "No, ma- 
dame," he replied, " I have seen too many." Rich- 
ard Watson, in a sermon entitled " Man Magnified 
by Divine Regard," thus employs this figure : " Those 
who deny immortality, make the volume close at 
the preface." Mrs. Barbauld, speaking of moon- 
light, says : 

" How deep its silence, yet how loud the praise! " 
** O i/lustrious disgrace I O victorious defeat.*' — Burke 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 195 

**The borrower runs in his own debt." — Emerson. 
** To trace out the shores of that shoreless sea (the Di- 
fine Mind) ; to measure its measureless extent, and to 
fathom its fathomless depths, will be the noble and joyous 
work of eternal ages." — Dr, Hitchcock. 

See likewise Is. Ixv. 20; Matt. vi. 23; xvi. 25; 
Mark viii. 35 ; i Cor. i. 23-25, 27, 28 ; xv. 9 ; 2 
Cor. vi. 8-10; xii. 10, 11 ; Rev. xi. 24. 

The narrow critic v^ill condemn such expres- 
sions ; but the keen and philosophic mind will ap- 
preciate their power and charm. " It is in Reason's 
ear," as Addison says, *' that these things speak.'' 

(7) Such a use of language as seems to convey 
an idea contrary to the real intention, w^hose design, 
however, is not to deceive, but to heighten the rhe- 
torical effect, technically termed Irony, It is dis- 
guised satire, sometimes called "dry-mock," as when 
a dwarf is nicknamed Atlas., or an ugly woman is 
called Venus., or a foolish fellow is introduced as a 
Solon, 

While using this figure, the speaker or writer 
should manifest decided coolness. Irony should 
rarely be introduced into popular address, and never, 
unless the majority of good and sensible people are 
fully prepared to indorse the sentiment advanced. 
There are a few noted preachers who are highly 
successful in the use of this figure, but they are 
careful as to the selection of the subjects ironized^ 
and frame their sentences with taste and even ele- 
gance. See Demosthenes On the Crown., begin- 
nmg, " Manifest it is, forsooth," &c. Gibbons' Rise 
and Pall is full of irony. See LowelFs Fable for 



196 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Critics. Lord Erskine, when told of one who 
died worth two hundred thousand pounds, replied, 
'' What a handsome sum to begin the next world 
with ! " 

*' What has the gray-haired prisoner done? 
Has murder stained his hands with gore? 
Not so. His crime 's a fouler one — 

God made the old man poor." — Whittier. 

*' Brutus is an honorable man." 

Shakspeare's Marc Antony. 

See I Kings xviii. 27; xxii. 13; Job v. i ; xii. 2; 
xxii. 4; xxiv. 1-4; xxxviii. 21, 23 ; Eccl. xi. 9; Is. 
1.2; Mark vii. 9; xiv. 41; Luke xviii. 11; xxii. 
36, 38^ 49-51 ; John x. 31, 32 ; xviii. 10. 

(8) Antithesis. This figure introduces a compar- 
ison of different things, and gains its power and 
charm through the effect of contrast. See Vol. IL, 
Figures of Oratory. 

(9) Such a use of numerical terms as deepens or 
renders more graphic the thought expressed, usually 
termed Numeration. The effect sought is rhetor- 
ical, not arithmetical. " Like a thousand of brick," 
says the man on the street. " Ninety-nine cent 
store," is rhetorically an attractive advertisement. 
" Silent was he for twice four days." — Virgil. 
'' Americans want everything done in about twenty 
minutes." *' The thousand and one nights ; " ''A 
twelvemonth and a day;" "Threescore years and 
ten ;" " He was half a thousand miles from home," 
— at once disclose a force and beauty not contained 
in the shorter numerical formulas. 

The Scriptures abound with this figure ; hence. 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 197 

in their interpretation careful inquiry should be made 
to ascertain whether the design of the sacred writer 
in using numerals is to make a literal or a mathemati- 
cal statement, or one for rhetorical effect. See Gen. 
xlvi. 15, 18, 22, 26, 27; Prov. ix. i ; xxx. 21, 29; 
Song of Solomon, v. 4; Matt. i. 17; xviii. 12, 21, 
22 ; xix. 28, 29. This figure appears with special 
prominence in the Book of Revelation. " The 
seven angels," " seven trumpets," " seven vials," 
'' four living creatures," '• four-and-twenty elders," 
*' the one hundred and forty and four thousand," 
" twelve gates," attended by " twelve angels," rest- 
ing upon '' twelve foundations," and '' twelve man- 
ner of precious stones," are representative. See 
also Rev. xiii. 18. " By such images," says Bush- 
nell, " and under such exact notations of arithmetic, 
does this man of vision put us in the way of con- 
ceiving the glorious and exact society God is recon- 
structing out of fallen powers." 

(10) Accumulation. It is such a specification of 
particulars belonging to a subject as greatly to magnify 
its importance. See Vol. II., Figures of Oratory, 

(11) Repetition. This figure has two general 
forms, the rhetorical and the oratorical. The latter 
form will be treated under Eloquence and Oratory^ 
Vol. II. Rhetorical repetition takes several distinct 
forms : a) The simple repetition of a v/ord or phrase 
under the same grammatical form and in the same 
rhetorical sense ; as, — 

*' None but the brave, 
None but the brave, 
None but the brave deserves the fair." — Dry den. 



198 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

The same is found in Matt. v. 3-1 1 ; Gal. i. 8, 9; 
Luke xiii. 1,5; Ezek. xxxii. 17-32; and Rev. viii. 
7-12. 

h) Repetition of a word under a different form, 
or a word or phrase repeated in a different sense, 
termed Ploce ; as, — 

*' Drops the light drip of the suspended oar." — Byron, 
** I dreamed a dream." — Pope, 

See also Is. ii. 11-17; Matt. vii. i, 2. See Patrick 
Henry's famous speech beginning, " We have pe- 
titioned ; we have remonstrated ; we have suppli- 
cated," &c. c) The immediate repetition of the 
same word or phrase, termed Ge?nination ; as, — 
** The cross ! the cross ! ** 
** Few, few shall part where many meet,''' — Campbell. 

See also 2 Sam. xviii. 33 ; xix. 4. d) The repetition 
of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive 
clauses or sentences, termed Anapho7'a ; as in the 
Merchant of Venice^ Act v. Sc. i., lines 1-22. See 
also Burke's speech against Warren Hastings, where 
" I impeach Warren Hastings" is six times repeated. 
See likewise Ps. xxix. 3-5 ; i Cor. i. 20. 

e) The repetition of a word at the end of succes- 
sive clauses or sentences. This is a favorite figure 
with Demosthenes, and is termed Epistrophei as, 

** The glorious company of the apostles praise thee ; the 
goodly fellowship of the saints praise thee," &c. 

Book of Common Prayer* 

** The borrower is timid; our laws are timid; the culti- 
vated classes are timid." — Emerson, 

f) The same word or phrase is placed both at 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 199 

the beginning and at the end of a clause or sentence, 
termed Antistrophe, 

** Fare thee well ! and if forever, 

Still forever, fare thee well." — Byron, 

G rattan often used this figure with great effect. 

g) The same word or phrase ending one clause 
or sentence and beginning the next, is another type 
of repetition, termed Anadiplosis. 

** Lycidas is dead — dead ere his prime." — Milton. 
See also Grattan's speech on The Riot Act, begin- 
ning, '' When you can enact that on account of his 
religion no Catholic shall sit in Parliament," &c. 
Likewise Is. Ixv. i8. 

/i) Repetition in an inverted order, termed Epan- 
odos^ as in Is. v. 20. {) The repetition of several 
words or phrases of similar signification, termed 
Symploce; as, — 

*^I am astonished, I am shocked." — Chatham. 
See also Book of Common Prayer.^ beginning, 
" The Scripture moveth us in sundry places," &c. 

To these types may be added, Repetition for the 
sake of Emphasis, the Echo, together with Intensi- 
fied Negation, and Intensified Affirmation. 

(12) Climax. In this figure there is an ascending 
series of thoughts or statements which increase in 
importance to the last. See Vol. II., Figures of 
Oratory. 

(13) Such a use of words as suggests, without 
formal statement, a familiar truth or incident, tech- 
nically termed Allusion, It is often successfully 



200 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

employed when, through notable historic examples, 
one would ennoble ordinary objects and thoughts. 
Allusion is used also when delicacy requires that a 
given thought snould not be directly or fully stated. 
It is a popular mode of speech, inasmuch as it hints 
to the mind Instead of dictating to it ; it is sugges- 
tive rather than declarative, depending upon the law 
of mental association, and when properly employed 
is very successful in awaking flagging attention and 
fixing the point at issue. 

In the use of this figure the following directions 
.should be observed: Allusion should not be em- 
ployed unless the larger proportion of those ad- 
dressed are fiimlllar with the incident intimated. 
Allusion, especially in the pulpit, should not be such 
as to oflend true Christian taste and refinement. 
The rhetorical management should be such as to 
make the focal points of the incident intensely visible 
and vivid. 

The fact that there is scarcely a popular speaker of 
any class who does not frequently employ this figure, 
suggests the statement that unless the orator enlivens 
his discourses by frequent allusions to familiar in- 
cidents in sacred and secular history, he is ignorant 
of one of the most successful rhetorical elements of 
popular speech. 

This figure sometimes involves a comparison ; as, 

" Like rigid Cincinnatus, nobly poor." 

It may also involve a metaphor ; as, — 
** He was the Achilles of the war." 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 201 

The allusion is sometimes historic or biographic ; 
as, — 

** Like Alexander, he wept because he had no more 
worlds to conquer." **I see my own vices in the distant 
persons of Solomon, Alcibiades, and Catiline." — Emerson, 

** In the smoke-stack of every steamer which brings the 
merchandise of Britain to our ports, we see a calumet of 
peace which her war-chiefs dare not extinguish." 

Robert C, Winthrop. 

Or the allusion may be what is termed '^ literary ; " 
as, — 

** He has fallen into the sere and yeHow leaf." 
**The anathema maranatha of every fawning dean." 

Macaulay* 

The Bible is the richest source of allusions. The 
student may add to the following. Dr. Sherlock 
thus addresses those who, though benefited by Chris- 
tianity, still scoff at it : 

** Ought the withered hand which Christ has restored 
and made whole^to be lifted against him.?" ** He who 
has really caught the mantle of the prophet, is the last 
man to imitate his walk." '*That man is like Herod, 
coarsely insolent in his impiety; sometimes, like Judas, 
betraying the Saviour with a kiss." 

** Fling but a stone, the giant dies." 

** In the parable of the man who fell among thieves, one 
man looked that way, another passed by; but one man 
came where he tvas. The trouble is, we don't go where 
people are. We stay where we are, and talk to them. If a 
man, highly educated and high-minded, talks from his 
fourth-story window to men in the street, they don't hear 
much. You have got to go where people are When 
Christ healed the blind man, he * touched him.' " 



202 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

(14) Such a use of language as allows the sen- 
tence to be suddenly arrested before completion, 
termed Indication, The psychological effect is the 
same as in case of the last-mentioned figure. The 
rule to be observed is, that the interruption should 
not be made until the hearer can fully divine the 
intention of the speaker, and thus be able to com- 
plete the sentence. Indication can be made doubly 
emphatic and impressive if accompanied by an 
appropriate gesture. 

** His soul has gone either to heaven or to — " 
*' He was alive; and lived to make me bless him; but he 
is — " 

^' On this side stand the sheep ; on that, the — " 

*' Ye winds whom I — But it is better to calm the 
billows.*' — VirgiL 

Also see Luke xiii. 9; xv. 21; xix. 42 ; John vi. 
15, 26. 

(15) That usage which introduces an imaginary 
case to illustrate a real one, or the 'treatment of a 
real case as if it were an imaginary one, technically 
termed Supposition. In all new sciences Supposi- 
tion plays an important part. It is usually based 
upon partial data, affording often a relief and rest 
to the mind in its investigations. Thus also in ordi- 
nary conversation there is frequently heard the 
phrase, " Now suppose a case.*' 

The Christian religion is positive, consequently the 
pulpit orator deals chiefly, not with conjecture, but 
with assertion and proof. Still, if even the preacher 
can pass through a year without the introduction 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH, 203 

of a supposition into his sermon, it is probable 
there will be much stupidity in his preaching. In 
all other forms of eloquence and oratory, Supposi- 
tion is regarded as indispensable. 

For excellent illustrations of this figure, see Let- 
ters of yunius ; Serfnons of Dr. Payson ; Matt, 
xxii. 42 ; Luke x. 36 ; xiii. 2 ; i Cor. x. 12 ; 2 Cor. 
xi. 5 ; I Peter v. 12. 

(16) Such a use of language as represents an 
object or subject in an odd and unexpected light, 
properly termed Incongruentia,^ The poetic bal- 
ance of this figure consists in the contrast between 
what is expected and what is really presented. 

Under this head fall : a) Ridicule. It is a kind of 
speech that seeks to apply to some object or person 
a sudden and derisive incongruity ; as, — 

** The king of France, with twice ten thousand men, 
Marched up the hill — and then marched down again." 

It is sometimes unintended, and is then termed ha- 
tJios. Said a preacher recently, — 

** The arm of the Lord is as fixed as fate, as sure as 
eternity, and as strong as the rock of Gibraltar.'' 

A preacher of high official standing in the church 
recently reached the following incongruous and un- 
expected conclusion : 

*' I have travelled in the West, and in the South and 
North; I have slept under damask curtains, and in the 
wigwam of the red man ; I h we been intimately acquainted 
with men and things; have studied the nature and effects 
of remedial agents; and the result of my experience and 
observation is, that pennyroyal tea is the best thing for the 
colic." 



204 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

Upon the monument of a beloved missionary is 
inscribed this epitaph : 

**He was shot by his attendant. Well done, good and 
faithful servant." 

h) Wit. It is a quick association of seemingly; 
incongruous ideas ; as, " The general is a great 
taker of snuff as well as of towns." 

" I understand," said one of his deacons to Rob- 
ert Hall, " that you are going to marry Miss M." 
" I marry Miss M. ! " replied the quick-witted 
preacher ; " I would as soon marry Beelzebub's 
eldest daughter, and go home and live with the old 
folks ! " When the wit is unintended, it is termed 
a BulL 

c) Humor. It is essentially wit prolonged, with, 
perhaps, this difference, that '^ Wit makes you laugh 
at one ; humor, ivith one." 

d) Parody. It is such a perversion of the words 
of a well-known author as gives to them a ludicrous 
meaning. 

Aristophanes through parody made his fiercest 
attacks upon Socrates and Euripides. See also Can- 
ning's Knife- Grinder ; Rejected Addresses^ by 
James and Horace Smith ; and Punch's Prize 
Novelists^ Thackeray. 

What Parody is in literature. Caricature is in 
picture-making. Nast gives the secret of the latter 
art by saying that it merely consists in magnify- 
ing prominent characteristics. 

e) Pun. It is a witty play upon either the sound 
or the sense of a word ; as, — 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH, 205 

** Half Hebrew, half English, the slopseller Moses 
Cries ' clo'es' all the week, but on Saturday closes." 

Simpson. 

y) Innuendo. It is a figure which shrewdly 
insinuates or implies, instead of directly assert- 
ing, its meaning. United with irony, it becomes a 
sneer, 

(17) That usage in speech which allows a speaker 
or writer to carry on an address with himself, called 
Soliloquy, It is peculiarly effective in meditative 
discourse. See introduction of Hugh Latimer's dis- 
course before King Henry VIII. ; and Ps. vi. 6, 11 ; 
xiv. I ; cxvi. 7, 12, 13 ; Job xxxix. 25. 

(18) Similar to the last figure is that usage which 
allows the speaker or writer to introduce conversa- 
tion between himself and another person, or a thing 
personified, or between two other persons, or two 
other things personified, the speaker himself taking, 
or not taking part, as the case may require, called 
Dialogue, 

In an outburst of feeling this figure is often highly 
effective. It has been employed by every great 
orator, sacred and secular. See Demosthenes On 
the Crown; Speeches^ by Lord Brougham; An- 
selm's Cur Deus Hoino (translated in Bib, Sac.^ 
Oct., 1854, and Jan., 1855) ; The yarrings of 
Heaven Reconciled by the Blood of Christ ; Fish's 
Pulpit Eloq, Vol. II. p. 454. This figure is found 
also in Is. xl. 6 ; Ixiii. 1-6 ; Luke xi. 16-21 ; xii. 20 ; 
xiii. 25-27; xviii. 11-13. 

(19) Interrogation. This figure is not used foi 

18 



206 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

asking questions in the ordinary sense of question 
asking, but to interrupt and intensify the ordinary 
flow of a narration or an address. See Vol. II., 
Figures of Oratory, 

III, The Art of acquiring Skill in the Use 
of Poetic-Prose Speech. 

In general the same directions are to be followed 
as are given under Poetic Speech^ p. i6o. In ad- 
dition it will be found necessary, in order to gain 
mastery in the use of word and sentence-figures, 
to cultivate keen discrimination in the use and 
application of words. The words employed must 
be carefully weighed. The discovery of the. re- 
lations between things material and things spir- 
itual should also be constantly attempted. Hence, 
refinement of taste and profound reflection will 
be found essential to the highest success in the 
use of Poetic-Prose speech. Indeed, the imagina- 
tion of the poet, the skill of the rhetorician and lin- 
guist,. and the wisdom of the philosopher are called 
into requisition. The faculties thus involved must 
consequently be under patient and constant cultiva- 
tion. 

There ought also to be an appeal to the masters of 
poetic-prose speech. Familiarity with the standard 
poets is therefore recommended. The scientist is 
studied for facts, the poet for the methods governing 
his composition and construction. An acquaintance 
with Qinntilian will stimulate the figure-producing 
faculties. No work in polite literature is adorned 



POETIC-PROSE SPEECH. 207 

with more, or with more appropriate, metaphors 
than his treatise upon Rhetoric. The waitings of 
Thomas Fuller, Ruskin's Modern Painters^ Car- 
lyle's French Revolution.^ the works of Swedenborg 
when shorn of their extravagances, those of Shaks- 
peare, and lastly, though first in order of impor- 
tance, the Bible, upon the grounds of rhetorical art. 
should be the text-book of constant reference.^^ 

Every thoughtful reader, upon even this limited 
survey, must be convinced that, though the different 
principles and figures of poetry and prose are in 
daily use among even common people, still, to mas- 
ter English speech, either as an art or a science, 
requires more time than is usually allowed in our 
American system of education. 

" It makes us blush," writes De Qiiincey, '' that 
even grammar is so little of a perfect attainment 
amongst us, that, with two or three exceptions (one 
being Shakspere, whom some affect to consider as 
belonging to a semi-barbarous age), we have never 
seen the writer, through a circuit of prodigious read- 
ing, who has not sometimes violated the accidence 
or the syntax of English gramm.ar." 

Says Professor Marsh : 

** A distinguished British soldier of the last century said 
ne had known but three of his countrymen who spoke their 
native language with uniform grammatical accuracy; and 
the observation of most persons widely acquainted with 
English and American society confirms the general truth 
implied in this declaration."^^ 



208 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

It has been claimed, and perhaps upon reason* 
able grounds, that three fourths who speak English 
have no distinct idea of three fourths the words em- 
ployed. Nearly every graduate from college appears 
to better advantage in almost every other department 
than in English speech. This should be corrected. 
Writers and speakers can become so familiar with 
the arts of speech, with its laws, rules, and figures, 
that they will know how and when to apply or em- 
ploy them. While it may be true that all who as 
pire to rhetorical excellence cannot become graceful 
in pure poetic speech, as this requires special gifts, 
still, persons of only average intelligence, whether 
engaged in scholarly pursuits or at manual labor, 
if they will systematically devote a fair proportion 
of their leisure moments to the study of English 
speech, can learn to wield intelligently, and with 
greater or less elegance and perfection, all the arts 
belonging to prose and to poetic-prose composition.^ 



SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 



Note * (Page lo.) 

For forcible statements of the marvellousne s of the 
speech organs, see Whitney's Language and the Study of 
Language^ pp. 88, 89, and Farrar's Language and Lan- 
guages, p. 272. 

Note I. (Page 10.) 

**The people who do not talk, always turn out to be 
talkers. The last time it was publicly stated that the Ve- 
dahs of Ceylon have no language, Max MUller had the 
matter investigated. It turned out, as it has always done 
in other cases, that there was plenty of language, and very 
good language. * Many of the words are mere corruptions 
of Sanskrit.*" — Chips, vol. iv. p. 342. 

Note II. (Page 12.) 

We are indebted to the native American for the name? 
of some of our states and towns, and for the names of 
many a lake, river, and mountain. From this same abo- 
riginal source came the words barbecue, canoe, choc{o)late, 
moccasin, squaw, pappoose, potato, qua hog, sachem, succo- 
tash, tammany, tautog, tobacco, tomahaivk, Tankee, and 
wigwam. 

From the Dutch the English tongue has taken sloop, 
yacht, and schconer. Corral, alligator, cargo, embargo, 
Bterra, stampede, ranch, cigar, lasso, and mustang came 
14* 



210 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

from Spanish. Maize and hurricane came from the West 
India tongue; c<75/5 and c<?w;;2^<fo;'e from Portuguese ; banjo^ 
from the African ; ahnanac^ alcohol^ chemistry^ and tariffs 
from Arabic ; indigo, pagoda, nabob, pundit, and jungle, 
from Hindostanee ; taboo, from Polynesian ; calico is formed 
from Calicut ; damask, from Damascus ; gauze, from Gaza ; 
cambric, from Cambray; crayon, from Creta; currants, 
from Corinth; bayonet, from Bayonne; and magnet from 
Magnesia. 

The indebtedness of the English tongue to the French, 
Latin, and Greek is disclosed in almost every sentence 
framed. 

Note III. (Page 12.) 

Sir Thomas More's Life of Edward V., begun 1509, is, 
according to Hallam, the first example of correct English. 
"Pure and perspicuous, well chosen, without vulgarisms 
or pedantry," is Hallam's commendation of this work. 

Note IV. (Page 12.) 

For illustrations of Old English, see the writings of 
Chaucer (1328-1400) and of Sir John de Mandeville (1300- 
1371), and the Translation of Matthew's Gospel, by Wick- 
liffe (1324-1384). 

** Whan dame Prudence, ful debonairly and with gret pacience, had herd 
all that hire husbonde liked for to say, than axed she of him licence for to 
speke, and sayde in this wise. My lord (quod she) as to your first reson, it 
may lightly ben answerd : for I say that it is no folie to chaunge conseil whan 
the thing is chaunged, or elles whan the thing semeth otherwise than it semed 
afore." — Chaucer's ** Parson^ s Tale." 

"And also the Cristene men enforcen hem, in alle maneres that thei mowen, 
for to fighte, and for to desceyven that on that other. And there with alle thei 
ben so proude, that thei knowen not how to ben clothed ; now long, now 
schort, now streyt, now large, now swerded, now daggered, and in all manere 
gyses. Thei scholden ben symple, meke and trev/e, and fiille of Almes 
dede, as Jhesu was, in whom thei trowe." — Sir John de MandevilWi 
•* Travels:' 

** And he saith to hem. Go yee. And thei goynge out wente in to the hoggis : 
and loo ! in a greet bire al the drone wente hcedlynge in to the see, and thei 



NOTES. 211 

bee dead in watris. Forsothe the hirdes fledden awey, and cummynge in tc 
the citee, tolden alle these thingis ; and of hem that hadden the fendis. And 
loo \ al the citee wente ageinis Jhesu, metynge hym ; and hym seen, thei 
preiden hym that he shulde pass fro her coostis.'* 

Wickliffe* s ** Translation^^'* Matt. viii. 32-34. 

Note V. (Page 13.) 

Dream of Arthtn ^ by Lajamon (1150-1250) is an excel- 
lent specimen of Semi-Saxon. It begins thus : 

* • To niht a mine slepe, 
Ther ich laei on bure, 
Mei maette a sweuen ; 
Ther uore ich ful sari aem. 
Me imette that mon me hof 
Uppen are halle. 
Tha halle ich gon bestriden. 
Swulc ich wolde riden ; 
Alle tha lend tha ich ah 
Alle ich ther ouer sah. " 

The following is Sir F. Madden's translation : 

" To-night in my sleep (bed), 
Where I lay in chamber, 
I dreamt a dream, — 
Therefore I am * full * sorry. 
I dreamt that men raised (set) me 
Upon a hall ; 
The hall I gan bestride. 
As ^ I would ride ; 
All the lands that I possessed (had), 
All I there overlooked (them saw)." 

Note VI. (Page 13.) 

Caedmon*s Creation^ and King Alfred's Translaticn of 
ike Pastorals of St, Gregory^ are the best existing types 
of Anglo-Saxon speech. The following is from Caedmon*a 
Creation • 

* Ne waes her tha giet, nymthe heolster-sceado, 
Wiht geworden ; ac thes wida gnind 
Stod deop and dim — drihtne fremde,! 
Idel^ and linnyt 



212 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Metod engla heht, 
(Lifes brytta) leoht forth cuman 
Ofer nimne griJnd. Rathe waes gefylled 
Heah-cininges haes — him waes halig leoht, 
Ofer w^stenne, swa se wyrhta behead." 

The translation is from Guest's English Rhythms : 

* • Ne had there here as yet, save the vault-shadow, 
Aught existed ; but this wide abyss 
Stood deep and dim — strange^ to its Lord, 
Idle 2 and useless. 

Bade the Angel-maker, 
(The Life-dispenser) light to come forth 
O'er the wide abyss. Quick was fulfill'd 
The high King's best — round him was holy light, 
Over the waste, as the Maker bade.** 

Note VII. (Page 13.) 
Teutonic Linguistic Tree. 
In the following diagrams we note the more important 
tongues, leaving the student the privilege of adding the 
.ess important branches. Similar trees may be found in 
Schleicher's Gramm.y in Dr. Boltz's Die Sfracke und ihr 
Lehen, and in Farrar's Language and Languages. 



NOTES. 



213 



Note VII. (Page 13.) 
TEUTONIC LINGUISTIC TREE. 




Teutonic Trunk. 



214 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Note VIII. (Page 14.) 

The people from which sprung the Celts probably left 
Asia earlier than either the Thracians or the Pelasgians. 
In Gaul this Celtic tongue prevailed until the sixth or 
seventh century; it was then superseded by the Rustic 
Roman, which, modified by the Gallic dialects, formed 
the basis of the Romance family, the Italian, French, and 
Spanish. 

Note IX. (Page 14.) 
Farrar thus forcibly states this point : 

•* When once a few scholars had profoundly studied it, and had published 
their results to the world, — when such a book as Bopp's Comparative Gram- 
mar had placed side by side the facts of nine such languages as Sanskrit, Zend, 
Armenian, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Slavonian, Gothic, and German, and 
when Prichard, Zeuss, Diefenbach, and others, had published their Celtic la- 
bors, — it could not longer remain doubtful to any reasonable man that the 
stately Brahmin, and the gay Frenchman, and the restless Albanian, and the 
Irish peasant, and the Russian serf, and the Lithuanian farmer, and the Eng- 
lish gentleman, and the Dutch boor, nay, even the poor outcast, wandering 
gipsy, all speak languages which were once a single and undivided form of hu- 
man speech, and are all sprung from ancestors who radiated from one geo- 
groi^Iiical centre which was their common home." 

Farmr^s '''' Language a9id Lat^iuges,*^ 



KOTES. 



215 



Note X. (Page 15.) 



ARYAN LINGUISTIC TREE. 



Upon this branch rs to be grafted 
the figure under Note VII. 




Aryan TiraJi 



216 



THE ART OF SPEECH. 



Note XI. (Page i6.) 



SEMITIC LINGUISTIC TREE. 



Several Dialects, 
loclading Maltese. 




NOTES. 



2Vi 



Note XII. (Page i8.) 



SPORADIC LINGUISTIC TREE. 



^^: 




Sporadic Tnisk. 



19 



218 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



Note XIII. (Page 19.) 

Wc are indebted toDe Mille for the following list of ne'w 
words : 

**In 1534 Sir Thomas Elyot mentioned y>;/ovi://Vy, temperance^ 'sobriety^ 
tnd magnanimity^ as modern words. In 1589 Puttenham called the following 
modem inventions : function, numerous^ penetrate^ indignity, savage^ scien- 
ti/ic^ dimension, idiom^ compendious^ Prolix, figurative^ impressive^ metri- 
cal, inveigU, In 1601, Philemond Holland gave the same character to the 
following : acrimony, austere^ bulk^ consolidate, debility, dose^ aperient, opiate, 
propitious, symptom. Bacon did not know encyclopedia^ but used circle 
learning. Shakspeare, in Twelfth Night, alluded to element as new; and 
Wotton spoke of characters as a recent acquisition. Fulke, in the beginning 
3f the seventeenth century, objected to rational, tunic, scandal^ neophyte, des- 
picable, destruction, homicide. Thomas Fuller stated that plunder was im- 
ported from Germany, where it originated during the Thirty- Years' War. 
Malignant, cavalier, Roundhead^ and selfish arose during the Parliamentary 
War. Pathos arose a little later; as did also mob. In 1658 the following were 
objected to in Heylln's Observations on L'Estrange's History of Clutrles II.i 
adoption, abstruse, amphibious, articulate-t adventitious^ complicated, compen- 
sate, concede^ caress, destination, horizontal, oblique, ocular, radiant* Drag- 
onnade and refugee came into use during the age of Louis XIV. In 1670 
Dryden objected to good graces-^ repartee, embarrass, grimace, chagrin. 
Suicide was condemned at about the same time. In Skinner's Etymologicon, 
1688, cajole and sentiment were called new. Johnson was blamed for usin^ 
resuscitation, narcotic, fatuity, germination. Sans-culotte, guillotine, and 
terrorism arose during the French Revolution ; and hosts of new words have 
been coming into the language ever since." 

Note XIV. (Page 20.) 

** I^anguages," says Mr. Crawford, ** in the savage state, 
are great in number ; in improved society, few. The state of 
languages on the American continent affords a convincing 
illustration of this fact; and it is not less satisfactorily ex- 
plained in that of the Indian islands. . The negro races 
who inhabit the mountains of the Malayan peninsula, in 
the lowest and most abject state of social existence, though 
numerically few, are divided into a great many distinct 
tribes, speaking as many different languages. Among the 
rude nnd scattered population of the island of Timor it if 



NOTES. 219 

believed tliat not less than forty languages are spoken. In 
Inde and Flores, we have also a multiplicity of languages; 
and among the cannibal population of Borneo it is not 
improbable that many hundreds are spoken." 

Note XV. (Page 20.) 

Professor Whitney, in Lecture V., La7iguage and the 
Study of La7iguage, fully illustrates these thoughts. 

Note XVL (Page 22.) 

The English tongue is not the only borrower; the 
literary Persian has made heavy drafts from the Arabic, 
while the literary Turkish and Hindostanhave freely bor- 
rowed from both Arabic and Persian. 

Note XVII. (Page 24.) 
(See Note IX. Page 15.) 
The student will find it a pleasant and profitable recrea- 
tion to trace given roots through the diflferent members 
of the Aryan family. Examine, for instance, the words 
for oyster : 

"Greek SarpEov, Latin osirea^ Scandinavian ost'^a, French kuUre^ Irish 
^isridh^ Welsh oesiren, Russian ustersu, Armenian osdri, and so on, — all de- 
rived probably from the same root as the Latin ost and descriptive of the bony 
shell of the mollusc, and all totally different from the Sanskrit pushtika. The 
only inference from this fact is that the Western Aryans became familiar with 
the Caspian Sea, and therefore with oysters, long before their eastern breth- 
ren, who, not meeting with them till they reached the shores of the Indian 
Ocean, hit upon another name for them, derived from an entirely different 
root.'* 

See Farrar's Language and Languages^ pp. 328, 329, and 
Pictet's Origin of Indo-Europcans, I. 440-445. 
Trace also the following roots ; 

I and ga^ denoting simple motion ; ak^ swift motion ; sta. standing ; aj, and 
tad, sitting ; Xi, lying ; pad, walking ; vas, staying ; iak, following ; vart^ 
tuming ; frrr/J, creeping ; pat^ flying ; ////, flowing ; ad^ eating ; /a, drinking ; 
«ff, blowing : vid, seeing ; ki-u, hearing ; vak, speaking ; dha^ putting ; dd^ 



220 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

giving ; labh, taking ; garhh^ holding ; dik, pointing out ; bJiar^ bearing ; Jcir^ 
making; tan^ stretching; skid and dal^ dividing; bandh^ binding; star^ 
strewing; par^ filling; viar^ rubbing; Ma, shininsj; hh% growing. 

Note XVIII. (Page 26.) 
(See Note XIV. p. 20.) 
The discussion of this thought bj Farrar is forcibly sug- 
gestive. 

** If all the nations who speak these Allophylian and Sporadic languages 
were swept away to-morrow from the face of the earth — vast as would be the 
numerical lacuna which they would leave among the 1,000,000,000 of living 
men — they would, with the exception of the Chinese, leave scarcely a trace 
behind them in the religion, the history, the literature, or the civilization of 
mankind. It is true that there have been epochs when men of these races 
burst from their uncivilized confines, and under leaders like Attila, and Timour, 
and Zenghis Khan, flooded the civilized world with their deluges of barbarism; 
but as a rule even their deeds of destruction have had but little permanence, 
and have left but a transitory impression. And even in historic periods, not 
a few of these Sporadic peoples have utterly passed away. The Carib has 
disappeared from the West Indian islands ; the Tasmanians from Van Die- 
men's Land ; the Guanches from the Canaries ; Maories are dying out from 
New Zealand ; many tribes of the Americans, Australians, and other savages 
perish as surely before the advance of civilization as does the line of snow, on 
which a shadow has lain, when the sunlight reaches it. There may be some- 
thing melancholy in the thought; but, ultimately considered, the disappear- 
ance of a race is merely the decease of an individual." 

Note XIX. (Page 27.) 

The instincts of English speech are constantly seeking 
a return to the primitive monosyllabic character. See 
p. 48. The more conservative tongues, notably the Chi- 
nese, Transgangetic, and Thibetan languages of the Spo- 
radic or Allophylian family, have never doffed their mono- 
syllabic structure. 

Note XX. (Page 27.) 
Thus the Chinese say room-silver for treasury. The 
Turk says, seV'tsc/i'der-il-jne-meky for t/iey could not be 
brought to love ofie another. The Hungarian says, var-at- 



NOTES. 221 

andot'ta-tok^ for you will have been waited for. The English 
tongue says, father-in-law ^ railway-statio7iy &.c. 

Note XXL (Page 28.) 
The following words extend their roots into the tongues of 
the great families of speech : 

1. Eng. : three. 

2. Sans. : tri. 

3. Zend. : thri. 

4. Celt. : Erse, tri; Welsh, tri. 

5. Ital. : Lat. tres^ tria ; Fr. trois ; It. tres ; Sp. tre. 

6. Heln. : Gr. rpeis, rpia. 

7. Teut. : Goth, thri; Ger. drei; Sw. ^r^ / Dan. tre ; Sax. //^r^^, /Ar/. 

8. Slav. : Rus. /rz"/ Let tri.' 

9. Arab.: ^/z«/M. 

1. Eng. : seven. 

2. Sans. : saptan. 

3. Zend. : haptan ; Per. /z^/. 

4. Celt.; Welsh, j^zV/z. 

5. Ital.: Lat. septem ; It. sette ; Sp. «W^/ Fr. j</5/. 

6. Heln. : eTrra. 

7. Teut. : Goth, sibun ; Ger. sieheii ; Du. zeeven ; Dan. jyz/ / Sax. seofen, 

8. Slav. : Rus. f ^w ; Let. septyni. 

9. Arab. : ja3. 

10. Chaldee, Syriac, and Ethiopic, sheha. 

1. Eng. : bear. 

2. Sans. : briy bhar-adi. 

3. Zend. : bairan ; Pers. ber. 

4. Celt. : Ers. bear-adh. 

5. Italc. : \.2X. fero^ parioy porta ; It. portare ; ^p. Portar ; Yr. Pcrier. 

6. Keln. : Gr. (^epco, <f>op€(a, fiapo^ (a thing borne, a burden), ^apvc. 

7. Teut: Goth, bairan; Ger. Juhren ; Du. beiiren ; Sw. bcera; Dan. 
hcere ; Sax. bceran. 

8. Slav. : Rus. 3^r«. 

9. Heb. parah, or <5«r«. 



222 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



Note XXIII. (Page 30.) 

The following quotations show the opinion of some who 
have given this subject thought : Lessing says that **God 
is too good to have withheld from his poor children, per- 
haps for centuries, a gift like speech." M. de Bonald asks, 
** How can we suppose that a Good Being could create a 
social animal without remembering that he ought also, 
from the first moment of his existence, to inspire him with 
the knowledge necessary to his individual, social, physical 
and moral life." *' Any one," says Steinthal, ** who thinks 
of man without language, thinks of him as one of the 
brutes." 

Note XXIV. (Page 33.) 

Farrar (p. 378) illustrates at length this feature of speech : 

*' Even numerals, abstract as they may seem, are derived from imitations and 
metaphor. Myriad is from the root mur in tnunnur^ implying the rush of 
water-drops. The Sanskrit for loo crores of lacs of rupees is jaladJii^ or 
ocean, and for ten billions \s padnia^ a lotus, or sanku, an anthilL Take such 
a word as * mystery,* beyond which in its highest meanings language cannot 
go; yet what is it etymologically but an extension of the syllables mu, mum, 
an onomatopoeia from the closing of the lips ? What is * mother ' bui. «i length- 
ening of the first crooning of childish labials? What is * heaven ' but the space 
heaved over us ; or * hell ' but a hole beneath our feet ? " 

Note XXV. (Page 33.) 
See Law of Development, page 39. 

Note XXVI. .Page 37.) 
Trench, on the Study of Words, gives an interesting ac- 
count of several of these words. The fuller dictionaries 
will also be of service in discovering the primitive meaning 
of words. 

Note XXVIl. (Page 38.) 

Likewise study Trench and the fuller dictionaries on the 
list of words here given. 



NOTES. 223 

Note XXVIII. (Page 38.) 

** Words are the sounds of the heart," says the Chinese 
proverb. 

*• There is a relation to be observed between words and 
the mouth which pronounces them," says La Bruydre. 

** Words," said Drjden, ** are but pictures of our 
thoughts." 

And the wise Confucius has said that '* Words are the 
voice of the heart." 

** Thy speech betrayeth thee," can be said of every man 
as well as of Peter. How sharply defined is the Master's 
announcement, ** Out of the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh." 

Note XXIX. (Page 39.) 

No English poet surpasses Milton in these admirable 
symbolizations where the sound of the word signifies the 
thing meant, technically termed Onomatopoeia, 

** On a sudden open fly, 
With impetuous recoil and jarring sound. 
The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate 
Harsh thunder." 

" Arms on armor clashing bray'd 
Horrible discord, and the madding wheels 
Of brazen chariots rag'd ; dire was the noise 
Of conflict ; overhead the dismal hiss 
Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew.'* 

Paradise Lost. 

Note XXX. (Page 40.) 

Professor Whitney illustrates the development of word? 
from existing roots thus : 

** PonOt in Latin, signifies *put,* or 'place, 'but we might well spend an 
hour in tracing out all \hc store of ideas which it has been made in our lan- 
piage the means of designating. Some of Its uses we have inherited fi"oin 
the Latin ; others were struck out during the later period of the French ; yet 
Others have grown up on English soil ; and we are even now far from having 



224 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

exhausted its capabilities of expression. From the uncompounded root come 
Pose^ 2i poser, position, with its many applications, post, wiih its still more 
various and special uses, posture, positive, and so forth. Then, as combined 
with prefixes, for the most part significant merely of place and direction, it 
g^ives us an apposite remark, apposition of nouns ; component parts, composure 
of mind, a great composer, compositions and declamations, a composing-s^icV, 
compost-heaps, compound interest, to compound a felony ; a deponent verb, the 
deponent saith, a deposed king, depositions from water, a school-book depository, 
removal of the deposits, a r2a\w2i.y depot ; an exponent of democratic principles, 
to expose a fraud, exposed to attack, clear exposition of a hard text, a lawn 
with a southern exposure ; an iinposittg figure, imposts and customs, miserable 
impostor, consecrated by imposition of hands ; to impound stray cattle ; an 
imposing-stone ; all his disposable forces, disposed to sleep, an amiable dispo. 
sition, the prima donna is indisposed, troops disposed in three lines, God dis- 
poses ; sl worthy opponent, the house opposite, member of the opposition ; di- 
vine interposition ; he proposed to her, fifth proposition^ first book ; propounded 
for admission ; locked in sweet repose, to repose confidence; what do yow pur. 
pose? he did it on purpose ; an effect supposes a cause; at least I suppose so; 
a supposititious heir; and so on. Here is but a selection from among the mul- 
titude of expressions for heterogeneous conceptions which have grown out ol 
the sign for the simple idea of 'putting' or 'placing; ' but though a striking, 
they are not an exceptional instance of the manner in which linguistic usage 
deals with all the material of language." 

All persons are familiar with the tendency of speech to 
forai new words by compounding existing ones. Take, for 
illustration, a class of words now foiTning : it-ought-to-be-taken- 
notice of, not-to-bc-lost-sight of; a class already formed, but 
retaining the hyphen : railroad- fence, ink-bottle, steamboat- 
whistle, ginger-bread, house-top, mother-tongue, dco7'-plate ; still 
others where the hyphen has disappeared : Godlike, forehead^ 
fortnight, breakfast, household, witchcraft, shepherd, wheel- 
wright, deathbed. 

Sometimes the members of the compound suffer very great 
modificaLion. Loved is compounded of love and did ; the did 
being contracted to d, or being represented by it. Lovely is 
compounded of love and like ; the like being represented by /. 
The word such is thought to be compounded of so and like ; 
what is the union and contraction of the two words who and 
like. 

See Note XIII. for a list of new words developed from 
English speech. 



NOTES, 225 



Note XXXL (Page 47.) 

Certain Isorth American tongues admirably illustrate 
lliis feature of language. 

"la a Ricaree vocabulary extending to fifty names of common objects, 
which in English are nearly all expressed by single syllables, there is not one 
monosyllabic word ; and in the nearly allied vocabulary of the Pawnees, the 
names for these same common objects are monosyllabic in but two instances. 
Things so familiar to these hunting tribes as dog and bow, are, in the Pawnee 
language, asJuxkish and teeragish ; the Aancf and the gyes are respectively tk- 
sheeree and keereekoo ; for dny the term is shakooroveesJtairety and for devil it 
is tsaJieekshkakoorawah ; while the numerals are composed of from two sylla- 
bles up to five, and in Ricaree up to seven. That the great length of these 
familiar words implies a low degree of development, and that in the formation 
of higher languages out of lower there is a progressive integration, which re- 
duces the polysyllables to dissyllables and monosyllables, is an inference con- 
firmed by the history of our own language.'' — Herbert Spencer's First Prin- 
ciples^ p. 319- 



Note XXXII. (Page 49.) 

The tendency to shorten words may also be seen in the 
following list: Middle^ from mid-deal ; o'clock^ from of the 
clock ; suz, as in the expression *' O dear me suz," is from 
says I ; "ju ashing- tub and cooking-stove have become the less 
euphonious If «5>^-/;/^ and cook-stove; aid is from aid-de- 
camp; alas, {rom O (jne) lasso; caby ix ova cabriolet ; not^ 
from naught ; or, from other ; woman, from ivife-man. 

The first book printed in America was the Bay Psalm- 
Book, (1640.) In it we find, mee, for me; goe, for go; 
doe, for do ; hce, for he ; grasse, for grass ; and oyle, for oil. 

The same tendency is seen in other tongues, xai tyw be- 
comes, in New Testament Greek, xayw; and xai Bxsivog be- 
comes xaxEtvog. 

Proper names sometimes undergo almost disrespectful 
contractions : J^nintus Horatius Flaccus becomes Horace; 
Publius Virgilius Maro is simplified to Virgil; Rev* 
Henry Ward Beecher is reduced to Beecher, 



526 THE ART OF SPEECH. 



Note XXXIII. (Page 49.) 

The colloquialisms used by Dickens and the local poems 
of Bret Harte abound with illustrations of this character. 
The excessive use of and and zvhich^ by the illiterate, is 
especially noticeable. And iv /itch is likewivse often errone 
ously used for it. Says Coleridge (^T/ie Friend., Essay IV.) : 

** A close reasoner and a good writer in general may be known by his per- 
tinent use of connectives." 

*' Listen, on the other hand, to an ignorant man, though perhaps shrewd and 
able in his particular calling ; whether he be describing or relating. We im- 
mediately perceive that his memory alone is called into action ; and that the 
objects and events recur in the narration in the same order, and with the same 
accompaniments, however accidental or impertinent, as they had first occurred 
to the narrator. The necessity of taking breath, the efiforts of recollection, 
and the abrupt rectrfication of its failures, produce all his pauses ; and with 
exception of the ^andthen,^ the ^ and tJiere," and the still less significant * a«</ 
so^"* they constitute likewise all his connections." 

Coleridge still further illustrates this point by showing 
the contrast between the narration given by Hamlet to Ho- 
ratio of his voyage to England (^Hamlet., Act V. Sc. I.) and 
the Clown's evidence (^Measure for Measure^ Act 11. Sc. I.) ; 
the talk of the Nurse (^Romco and Juliet^ Act i. Sc. III. : 
Act II. Sc. VI.), and Mrs. Quickly 's relation of the circum 
stances of Sir John FalstaiTs debt to her {Henry IV* Part 
II. Act II. Sc. I.). 

Note XXXIV. (Page 54.) 

This law belongs to the MetafJiysics of Rlietoric, ^nd 
must be referred to that subject for further development. 
We merely note that Gibbon's Decline and Fall and several 
of Byron's poems have much meaning between the lines. 

Note XXXV. (Page 55.) 

The perp.exing irregularities of English plural termina- 
uons have thus been put to verse : 



NOTES. 227 

Remember, though box 

In the plural makes boxes. 
The plural of ox 

Should be oxen, not exes. 

And remember, though fleece 

In the plural is fleeces, 
That the plural of goose 

Isn't gooses nor geeses. 

And remember, though house" 

In the plural is houses. 
The plural of mouse 

Should be mice, and not mouses. 

Mouse, it is true. 

In the plural is mice, 
But the plural of house 

Should be houses, not hice I 

And foot, it is true, 

In the plural is feet. 
But the plural of root 

Should be roots, not reet. 



Note XXXVI. (Page 65.) 

Under the subjects of Syntax and Style will be found 
material which belongs partly under this head of Diction, 



Note XXXVII. (Page 70.) 

Lord Berneg's translation of Froissart (1523) has scarcely 
a word of Latin origin. The Bishop's Bible (156S) is al- 
most equally free; only about three per cent, of its words 
are foreign. But later, such writers as Gibbon, Johnson, 
and Hume are found using in some of their productions 
nearly fifty per cent, of foreign words. At the present 
time, such writers as Whittier, Tennyson, Longfellow, and 
Lowell, are using from sixty-five to ninety-five |?er cent 
of Anglo-Saxon wards. 



•228 THE ART OF SPEECH, 



Note XXXVIII. (Page 71.) 

Professor George P. Marsh, author of Lectures oyt thf. 
English Language, from an extensive survey of English 
literature, has furnished a list of well-known writers with 
the percentage of Anglo-Saxon words employed. His es- 
timates are made with the following restrictions : Proper 
names are not included; repetitions of the same word are 
counted ; different inflected forms of the same word are 
regarded as one word ; thus, good, better, best are counted 
as the same word. But different parts of speech from the 
same root are treated as different words; thus, good, 
goodly, goodtiess, are considered as three different words. 

De Mille has improved upon Professor Marsh by ex- 
tending and systematizing the list. See De Mille's Ele* 
ments of Rhetoric, 

PERCENTAGE OF WORDS OF ANGLO-SAXON 
ORIGIN IN DIFFERENT BOOKS. 

THE ENGLISH BIBLE AND PRAYER-BOOK. 

Ruth 96 

Jonah 93 

Malachi 91 

The Book of Common Prayer — Morning Service 87 

POETRY. 

Cursor Mundi — 418 lines 96 

Piers Plowman, Passus I * 92 

Chaucer, Man of Laives Tale — 560 lines 89 

Shakspeare, Midsumtner NighVs Dream, Act 1 53 

*• King jfohuy Act 1 89 

Milton, Lycidas 87 

Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book V. Canto 1 83 

Dryden, Religio Laid ••••• 80 

Butler, Hiulibras, Canto I. — 500 lines 8i 

Pope, To A ugusius 81 

Cowper, Tfu Task, Book 1 80 

Scott, Lay 0/ the Last Minstrel, Canto 1 90 

Wordsworth, Ode on Immortality 88 



NOTES, 229 

Shelley, Revolt of Islint, Canto 1 85 

Byron, Prisoner of Chilian 91 

'* Childe Harold^ Canto IV., stanza cxl. to close 83 

Tennyson, Vivien 90 

Robert Drowning, Christmas Eve • 88 

Mrs. Brow-ning, The Poefs Vow 89 

Keble, Christian Yeay — five poems . ..< 88 

Poe, The Raven 85 

Longfellow, TJie Building- of the Ship 89 

PROSE FICTION. 

Defoe, Robinson Crusoe — The Shipwreck Scene, 8014 words • • 93 

Bunyan, Pilgrim'' s Progress^ 3000 words 93 

Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, Chapter III • 80 

Lord Lytton, Rienzi, Chapter 1 85 

Charles Dickens, /'iV>^w/r>^ — "The Bagman's Story " 90 

George Eliot, Middlemarch^ Chapter 1 80 

ESSAYS AND EXPOSITORY WRITINGS. 

Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I., Chapters IV. V. VI. . . 89 

Junius, Z.^//^r///., to Sir William Draper 75 

De Quincey, Apparition on the Bracken^ and Savannah La Mar 82 

yi^izdiMXdiy, Preface to tJie Lays of Ancient Rome 76 

Emerson, Essay on Circles 80 

Henry Rogers, Review of Sydney Smithes Lectures on Moral 

Philosophy 71 

Hamerton, /«/^//^fr/«a/Z^ — * 'To a Solitary Student'* • . . . 7> 

HISTORY. 

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter LIV. • 6S 

Hallam, Constitutional History, Chapter VII 70 

AWson, History of Europe — Introduction • • 68 

Froude, //'/j/'^?;y ^Z'«^/««^, Chapter I. (one half) 77 

Freeman, History of the Norfftan Conguestf Ch:ipter 1 77 

Motley, History of the Dutch Republic, Chripier 1 75 

Draper, Intellectual Development of Europe^ Chapter 1 67 

ORATORY. 

Chatham, on the "Address to the Throne" 7a 

Burke, on the "Nabob of Arcot's Debts'' 74 

Grattan, on *• Irish Right" 73 

Erskine, on Paine's Age of Reason 73 

20 



230 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Brougham, against the Durham Clergy 7f 

Bishop Butler, Sermon on the Ignorance of Man 80 

Rev. F. W. Robertson, Sermon on the * Doubt of Thomas'* . . 8a 

WORKS ON RHETORIC. 

Blair, RJieioric — Introduction 69 

Campbell, ** *' 69 

Whately, ** " 69 

NEWSPAPERS. 

London Times', on the "Eastern Question" » . 7a 

London Telegraphy " '* 70 

Pall Mall Gazette, ** •* 80 

New York Herald^ ** *' Presidential Election," 67 

New York Tribune^ '* " 7c 

New York Stm^ *' " 73 

From the above a new table may be deduced, showing the relative pro 
portion of Anglo-Saxon words in different departments of literature : 

1. The English Bible 93 

2. The Prayer Book 87 

3. Poetry 88 

4. Prose Fiction 87 

5. Essays, 78 

6. Oratory 76 

7. History 7a 

8. Newspapers 72 

9. Works on Rhetoric 69 

Note XXXIX. (Page 73.) 

Quaint old Verstegan gives excellent advice as to puritv 
of speech. He says : 

" For my own part, I think them deceived that think our speech bettered 
by the abundance of our dayly borrowed words, for ihey beeing of another 
nature and not originally belonging to our language do not, neither can they 
in our toung leave their natural and true deryvations : and therefore as wel 
may we fetch words from the Ethiopians or East or West Indians, and thrust 
them into our language and baystinge all by the name of English, as those 
which wee dayly take from the Latin, or languages thereon depending: 
hence it cometh (as by after experience is found) that some Englishmen dis- 
coursing together, others being present and of our own nation and that nat 



NOTES. 231 

arally speak the English tongue, are not able to understand what the others 
say, notwithstanding they call it English what they speak.'* 

Chaucer thus speaks in the same vein : 

*' Let clerkes enditen in Latin, for they have the propertie of science, and 
the knowing of that facultie ; and lette Frenchmen in their French also en- 
diten their quaint termes for it is kindly to their mouths ; and let us show our 
phantasies in such wordes as we learnden of our Dame's tongue." 

And when he wrote for the teaching of his little son, he 
used English, "because," he said, "curious enditjing and 
harde sentences are full hevy at once for such a childe to 
lerne;" and bid the boy think of it as the "King's Eng- 
lish." 

Note XL. (Page 77.) 

Further hints as to this topic may be found under Chap- 
ters VI. and VII., and on p. 46. 

Note XLI. (Page 79.) 

It is estimated that the Greek has nearly twenty thou- 
sand different terminations for the regular and irregular 
conjugations, which must be learned in order thoroughly 
to master Greek speech. While the English verb in its 
regular form has but four inflections (love, loves, loved, 
and loving), and in its irregular form but five; j-et, by the 
use of helping-verbs, English speech has a power which 
the ancients, with all their inflections, could not attain. 

It is now admitted by the ablest grammarians that the 
so-called conjugations of English grammar are more prop- 
urly the simple formation of sentences. 

Sir Philip Sidney, in his Defence of Pocsie^ thus replies 
to the charge that " the English wanteth grammar" : 

"Nay, truly, it hath that praise that it wants not grammar; for grammar 
it might have, but needs it not, being so easy in itselfe, and so void of those 
cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods, and tenses, which I think 
was a piece of the tower of Baby'Dn's curse, that a man should be put to 
schools to leame his mother-tongue. But for the uttering sweetly and properly 
the conceit of the minde, which is the ende of speech, that it hath equally 
with any other tongue in the wond." 



232 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

Note XLII. (Page 85.) 

Jeremy Tajlor is among the best models of long sen- 
tences which are both clear and logical. 

Note XLIII. (Page 87.) 

The following quotation from Swift's letter to the Lord 
High Treasurer, containing a proposal for ** correcting, 
improving, and ascertaining the English tongue," is an 
illustration of a long sentence which would better be 
broken into short ones : 

"To this succeeded that licentiousness which entered with the Restoration, 
and from infecting our religion and morals, fell to corrupt our language, which 
last was not like to be much improved by those who at that time made up the 
court of King Charles the Second ; either such who had followed him in his 
banishment, or who had been altogether conversant in the dialect of those fa- 
natic times, or young men who had been educated in the same company, so 
that the court (which used to be the standard of propriety and correctness of 
speech), was then (and I think hath ever since continued) the worst school in 
England for that accomplishment, and so will remain till better care can be 
taken in the education of our young nobility, that they may set out into the 
world with some foundation of literature, in order to qualify them for patterns 
of politeness." 

Note XLIV. (Page 130.) 

A copy of this work was placed in the hands of Douglas 
Jerrold when recovering from sickness. *' Line after line, 
page after page, he read," says the account, **but no con- 
secutive idea could he get from the mystic production. 
Mrs. Jerrold was out, and he had no one to whom to ap- 
peal. The thought struck him that he had lost his reason 
during his illness, and that he was so imbecile he did not 
know it. A perspiration burst from his brow, and he sat 
silent and thoughtful. As soon as his wife returned, he 
thrust the mysterious volume into her hands, crying out, 
* Read this, my dear! * After several attempts to make any 
sense out of the first page or so, she gave back the book, 
saying, * Bother the gibberish ! I don't understand a word 
of it.' * Thank Heaven ! ' cried Jerrold, * then I am not an 
idiot.*" 



NOTES, 233 

Note XLV. (Page 131.) 

** The main secret of Macaulay's success laj in this, that 
to extraordinary fluency and facility he united patient, mi- 
nute, and persistent diligence. He well knew, as Chaucer 

knew before him, that — 

** * There is na workeman 
That can bothe worken wel and haslilie. 
This must be done at leisure parfaiilie.' 

If his method of composition ever comes into fashion, 
books probably will be better, and undoubtedly will be 
shorter. As soon as he had got into his head all the infor- 
mation relating to any particular episode in his * History* 
(such, for instance, as Argyll's expedition to Scotland, or 
the attainder of Sir John Fenwick, or the calling in of the 
clipped coinage), he would sit down and write off the whole 
story at a headlong pace, sketching in the outlines under 
the genial and audacious impulse of a first conception, 
and securing in black and white each idea and epithet and 
turn of phrase, as it flowed straight from his busy brain to 
his rapid fingers. . . . 

*' As soon as Macaulay had finished his rough draft, he 
began to fill it in at the rate of six sides of foolscap every 
morning, written in so large a hand, and with such a mul- 
titude of erasures, that the whole six pages were, on an 
average, compressed into two pages of print. This por- 
tion he called his * task; ' and he was never quite easy un- 
less he completed it daily. More he seldom sought to ac- 
complish ; for he had learned by long experience that this 
was as much as he could do at his best; and except when 
at his best he never would work at all. . . . 

'* Macaulay never allowed a sentence to pass muster until 
it was as good as he could make it. He thought little of 
recasting a chapter in order to obtain a more lucid arrange- 
ment, and nothing whatever of reconstructing a paragraph 
for the sake of one happy stroke or apt illustration. What- 
ever the worth of his labor, at any rate it was a labor of love." 
G. Otto Trevelyan : Life atid Letters 
of Lord Macauiay^ vol. ii. p. igS- 



234 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

The importance of this subject justifies the following 
quotation from Macaulay's journal (Feb. 8, 1S49), after the 
publication of his first two volumes : 

" I have now made up my mind to change my plan about my History. I 
will first set myself to know the whole subject ; to jjet, by peadlnjr and trav- 
elling, a full acquaintance with William's reign. I reckon that it v/ill take me 
eighteen months to do this. I must visit Holland, Belgium, Scotland, Ire- 
land, France. The Dutch archives and French archives must be ransacked. 
I will see whether anything is to be got from other diplomatic collections. I 
must see Londonderry, the Boyue, Aughrim, Limerick, Kinsale, Namur 
again, Lauden, Steiukirk. I must turn over hundreds, thousands, of pam- 
phlets. Lambeth, the Bodleian, and the other Oxford libraries, the Devon- 
shire Papers, the British Museum, must be explored and notes made ; and 
then I shall go to work. When the materials are ready, and the history 
mapped out in my mind, I ought easily to write, on an average, two of my 
pages daily. In two years from the time I begin writing, I shall have more 
than finished my second part. Then I reckon a year for polishing, retouching, 
and printing. This brings me to the autumn of 1853. I like this scheme 
much. I began to-day with Avaux's despatches from Ireland, abstracted al- 
most a whole thick volume, and compared his narrative rith James's. There 
is m.uch to be said as to these events.'* 

Note XL VI. (Page 138.) 

In vciodo-Yn Ji7ie IV n't i fig, "a hair-dresser becomes a tort' 
sorial artist \ an apple-stand, a bureau of Pomona ; an old 
carpenter, a gentleman long identified -with the building 
interest, A man does not breakfast, but he discusses (or 
partakes of) the morning repast ; he does not sit down at 
table, but he repairs to the festive board ; he does not go 
home, but he, proceeds to his residence ; he does not go to 
bed, but he retires to his downy couch; he no longer 
waltzes, but he participates in round dances ; he is not 
thanked, but he is the recipient of grateful achno-wledfr* 
ments, A house is rot building, but is /;/ process of ercc' 
Hon. A ship is not launched, but it glides into its native 
element. ^^ 

Why should one say, ** He proceeded to the sanctuary,'* 
w'Tien ** He went to church " is all that is meant? Why say, 
•* I regret exceedingly that the multiplicity of my previou* 



NOTES. 235 

engagements and other varied duties will necessarily' and 
unhappily deter me from accepting your very polite and 
very kind invitation," when all that is meant is, *' Thank 
you, I should be glad to go, but cannot." Why is the ex- 
pression, '* Assemblies congregated to witness," better 
than ** The people came to see "? Why stop to say, ** Call 
in requisition the services of your family physician," when 
*^ Send for your doctor" will answer every purpose? 

Men of culture say, ** houses were burned; " the sensa- 
tional reporter writes, ** edifices were consumed by the 
"aging elements." A miss in a horse-car, with school- 
books in her lap, was heard to say that she liked George 
Eliot's style, especially when *' l/e " asks in the second chap- 
ter of Middlemarck, *' Has anyone ever pinched into its 
>ilulous smallness the cobweb of prematrimonial acquaint- 
anceship.?" 

The following advice, given by "William Cullen Bryant 
to a young man who offered him an article for ih.Q Evening 
Post, is worthy of being pondered by every young person 
who aims at successful authorship : 

** I observe that you have used several French expressions in your article. 
I think, if you will Study the English language, you will find it capable of ex- 
pressing all the ideas that you may have. I have always found it so ; and in 
all that I have written I do not recall an instance, when I was tempted to use 
a foreign word, but that on searching I found a better one in my own lan- 
guage. 

*' Be simple, unaffected; be honest In your spealung and >^Titing. Never 
use a long word when a short one will do. Do not call a spade a well-known 
oblong instrument of manual industry ; let a house be a house, not a residence ; 
a place a place, not a locality, and so of the rest. Where a short word will 
do, you always lose by using a-.long one. You lose in clearness, you lose in 
honest expression of your meaning ; and in the estimation of all men who are 
competent to judge, you lose in reputation for ability. 

"The only true way to shine, even in this false world, is to be modest and 
unassuming. Falsehood may be a very thick crust, but in the course of time 
truth will find a place to break through. Elegance of language may not be it 
the power of all of us, but simplicity and straightforwardness are. 

"Write much as you would speak ; speak as you think. If with your in- 
ferior, speak no coarser than usual ; if with your superior, speak no finer. 
No one ever was a gainer by singularity of words or of pronunciation. TIm 
truly wi^e man will so speak that no one will observe how he speaks.'* 



236 THE ART OF SPEECH, 



Note XLVII. (Page 141.) 

Sajs Sidney Smith : ** After you have written an article, 
take jour pen and strike out half the words, and jou will 
De surprised to see how much stronger it is." 

Note XL VIII. (Page 154.) 

Father Taylor's illustrations are in some instances too 
forcible and vivid for the thought illustrated. Compare 
Nettleton's famous illustration of Gamblers in a Burning 
House. 

Some years ago a preacher in Newburyport, Mass., while 
describing the perils of an impenitent sinner in the voy- 
age of life, compared him to a vessel under a gale, drifting 
rapidly towards the adjacent breakers of Newburyport. At 
the climax of the elaborate figure, the preacher shouted, 
** How, how shall the poor mariner be saved?" An old 
veteran of the sea, absorbed with the vivid and skilful pres- 
entation of the preacher, sprang to his feet and screamed, 
"Let him put his ?iel-um hard down, and bear away 
for Squarml" The impenitent sinner was no longer 
thought of. 

Note XLIX. (Page 160.) 

The additional charm given to poetry by rhythm is thus 
very beautifully stated by James Montgomery: 

'* How much the power of poetry depends upon the nice inflection? of 
rhythm alone, may be proved by taking the finest passages of Milton or Shaks- 
penre, and merely putting them into prose, with the least possible variation 
of ihe words themselves. The attempt would be like gathering up dewdrops, 
which appear jewels and pearls on the grnss, but run into water in the hands : 
the essence and the element? remain, but the grace, the sparkle, and the foiiii 
tre gone." 



NOTES. 287 



Note L. (Page i6o.) 

Upon this ground Plutarch unwisely objects to figura- 
tive expressions. *'The most of those," he says, *' who 
are delighted with figures are childish and common.'* 
Sir Philip Sidney says that the ** whisperings and disputa- 
tions of the common people taste of a poetic vein." 
** Nothing," says M. de Bretville, ** is so easy and so nat- 
ural as a figure. It has often given me pleasure to listen 
to peasants using in their talk figures so varied, so ani- 
mated, and so free from vulgarity, that our artificial rhet- 
oricians were quite outdone; and when I have heard this 
rhetoric of nature, I have been ashamed of myself for hav- 
ing made eloquence a study so long and to so little pur- 
pose." Du Marsais thus likewise remarks : ** I am con- 
vinced that more figures are made in a single day at the 
market than in many day's sessions of the Academy." 

Not only is the figure-making propensity natural, but 
when the speaker, literate or illiterate, is thoroughly 
aroused, his tendencj^ is to enunciate his imaginations in 
*' sing-song" (measured song). Hence the finished orator, 
who wishes to conform to the rule not to speak prose in 
measured sentences, is often obliged to throw in words or 
expressions merely to break the measure; he thus destroys 
one of the elements considered essential to poetry. 

Note LI. (Page i66.) 

The following additional definitions belong to this topic : 

1. A Verse is a poetical line consisting of a certain num- 
ber of accented and unaccented syllables, arranged accord- 
ing to the rules of poetry. 

2. A Couplet^ or Distich^ consists of two lines or verses 
taken together. A Triplet consists of three lines rhyming 
together. 

3. A Stanza^ often incorrectly called a verse* is a combi- 



238 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

nation of several lines, varying in number, and constitut- 
ing a regular division of a poem or song. 

4. Rhyme is the similarity of sound in the last syllables 
of two or more lines. The principles of rhyme are so well 
stated by Dr. Hart (^Composition a fid Rhetoric), who fol- 
lows Guest {Eftglish Rhyth^ns)^ that we quote : 

'"'^ Rhyme at the end of a Word is the only kind of correspondence in sound 
generally recognized as rhyme. This likewise admits of three varieties. 

(i) Where the correspondence in sound is limited to the consonants follow- 
ing the final vowel ; as, comprehe«<^, reprimaw^. This is not now recognized 
as legitimate rhyme, though said to have once been common. 

(2) Where the correspondence in sound includes the final vowel, the conso- 
nant sound after it, and the consonant sound before it. 

Bonaparte the rogue 
The council did ^gxorogue* 

This is called the rich rhyme, and is said to be in favor among some races, 
though distasteful to the English ear. 

(3) Where the correspondence in sound includes the final vowel and the 
consonant sound after it ; as, zkiouti with<77//. 

This last is our common rhyme, and is the only one considered as legitimate 
in modem English verse. 

Conditions of Single Rhyme. — When it is intended in English to make a 
single syllable rhyme to another in the manner most acceptable to the ear, the 
following conditions are necessary : 

(i) The rhyming syllable should be an accented one. This rule is violated 
in such an example as the following : 

The fire oft-times he Vxn^letn^ 
His hand therewith he s\r\ge-eth. 

(2) The vowel of the rhyming syllable, together with the consonant or con- 
lonants following the vowel, should be of precisely the same sound, in thd 
two syllables. 

Thus, breath diOQS not rhyme Xo heath. The consonant sounds are al'ke 
but the vowel sounds are not. So also <!i\sease does not rhyme tc incr^ai^, be- 
cause, while the vowel sounds are alike, the consonant sounds differ. It she u Id 
be observed, too, in this connection, that rhyme is entirely a matter uf sound, 
not oi spelling. 

Then, King of glory, come, 
And with thy favor crown 
This temple as thy dome, 
This people as thy own. 



NOTES. 239 

1 I this example, a^me and dome, crown and otvtt^ are very faulty as rhymes, 
though corresponding entirely in the spelling. 

(3) The vcA-el in each of the rhyming syllables should be immediately pre- 
ceded by a consonant, not by another vowel ; thus : 

Hows^e'er 

Greet th^ ear, 
i« not an agreeable rhyme. The vowels and e, preceding the rhyming sylla- 
bles, produce an unpleasant hiatus. If a consonant is placed before one o' 

them, as, ^ 

Hows^7e'er 

Greet h\s ear, 

the rhyme is improved, though still not perfectly agreeable. By putting, jn 
like manner, a consonant before the other, as, — 

Now or «e'er 

Greet his ear, 
all objection is removed. 

(4) The consonantal sound thus immediately preceding the rhyming vowel 
should differ in the two syllables. Thus, o/wit rewit, abound rewound, are not 
agreeable rhymes. They constitute the objectionable rich rhynte^ before de- 
scribed. What the ear requires is a difference of consonantal sound immedi- 
ately preceding the rhyming vowel. 

(s) When, in a stanza, two or more lines rhyme together, and two or mora 
contiguous lines have another and a different rhyme, that other rhyme should 
differ from the first in its vowel as well as in its consonant sound. Thus, in a 
quatrain, if the four Imes should end severally in the words time^ ride^ crime^ 
bide^ the alternation would not be entirely satisfactory, because of the con- 
tinued recurrence of the i sound. Change to tinte^ rode, crinte-, bode, and the 
ear is satisfied. The alternation is complete. 

Conditions of Double and Triple Rhyme. — When the two or three final 
syllables of one word rhyme to the two or three final syllables of another word, 
the first of the two or three syllables thus rhyming together should be made 
to observe all the five conditions just given for single rhyme ; but, in the re- 
maining syllable or syllables, all the elements of one, that is, the vowel, the 
consonant before it, and the consonant after it, should sound exactly the same 
as the corresponding elements in the other. Thus, treas-ure^ pleas-ure; 
Xink-ltMg, s^rink-ling; ; -^hx-lan-thropy, vcix-san-thropy. 
The rosy light is dawnvciz 

Upon the mountain's brow ; 
It is Sabbath morning; 
Arise and pay thy vow. 

The double rhsrmes in this example are incorrect, the first syllables in each, 
dawn- and m^m-. not conforming to the conditions laid down for singly 
.hymc '» 



240 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

5. Blank Verse is the name given to poetry which is 
without rhjme. Milton's Paradise Losl^ the Plays cj 
Skakspeare^ Boker's Song" of Earilh Longfellow's Hia- 
watha and Eva7igdi7ie^ are poetry in blank verse. 

6. Hym7i' Stanzas, The varieties most in use are: (i) 
Lo7ig Metre; it is a stanza each line of which has four iam- 
bic feet. (2) Short Metre ; it is a stanza the first, second, 
and fourth lines of which contain three iambic feet, while 
the third line has four feet. (3) Co7n7no7i Metre ; it is an 
iambic stanza of seven feet, commonly divided into two 
lines, the first containing four feet, the second three. (4) 
Lo7ig Particular Metre; it is an iambic stanza of eight 
feet, divided into six lines, the third and sixth rhyming 
together, and the others rhyming in couplets. (5) Hal- 
lehtjah Metre ; it is an iambic stanza consisting of eight 
lines; the first four have three feet rhyming alternately; 
the last four have two feet, the first rhyming with the 
fourth and the second with the third. The reader will 
find illustrations of the foregoing metres in any of tht 
church hymn and tune books. 

ether metres may be seen by the following formulas: 

8'5, 7'5, 4'5, Trochaic, 



8. 


1 - u 1 - w 1 - w 1 - 


7. 


|-w l"'^ I"'-' I" 


8. 


1 - 1 - u 1 - 1 - 


7. 


|-v-»|-u|-w|- 


4. 


1 - w 1 - u 1 


7. 


1 — W 1 — W j — v^ 1 — 




7*5, Trochaui. 


f. 


- w 1 - w 1 - u |J - 


7. 


1 -w 1 -- 1 - - 1- 


7. 


1 -w 1 -u 1 - w 1 . 


T- 


1 -w 1 -« 1 - w 1- 



NOTES, 24] 



8 '5 and 7*5, Trochaic. 



8. — w I — w I — w I 

7. j - ^ I - ^ I - ^ I 

8. I - w I - u I - w I 
7. I - w I - u I - o I 



IVs, AnajxBstic. 

11. w — jvw— jww— (vi/w 
11. W^ — |w u— [w u» "I'-' "^ 
11. w— u w— Ivii; wT— .0 O 



12 '5 a fid 11 5, Anapcssttc. 

12. V — |w w— |w u— (w V— |u 

11. w — |v ^^--|u U— |w w — I 

12. w — |w w— |<-» w— jw vj— 1^ 
11. w — Iw u ~|w o— Iw w— I 



12*5, AnafcBstic. 

12. ».i; — |vj w ~|^ O— |u U 

12. V — |v w— |u» u— |u O 

12. U — jw O— j\-rw— !<-> U 

12. u — |w u— |u v-»— |u w 



H'j, alternately Dactytic and AnafxEstrc, 

11 -ww|-wu|-ww|-<^ (Dactjiic) 

11. V- [wv..-|wv.;-|uw-| CAnapaestic.) 

11. ♦ww|-ww|-uv^|-w (Dactylic.) 

11. w-|ww-|ww-|ww-| (Anapaestic.'i 

IG* 21 



242 THE ART OF SPEECH. 

\Vs a?id 10'5, Dactylic. 
11. |— vj o|— sj o|— w u|-v/ 

10. |— wwj— Ou|— wuf — 

11. |->.w|-v.«|-wv.|-0 
10. |-w ^|-vJ uj-o u|- 

10'^ and 11'5, or 5'5 and 6'^, Anapcestt'c. 

5. w — I w w I — 

5. w - I w u I - 

5. u - I ^ w 1 - 

5. w - I u u I - 

6. <j — I vj o I - w 

5. fj - I w w I - 

6. w — I w w ( - w 
5. w - I ^ o 1 - 



Note LIL (Page 178.) 

Webster's narration of the supposed facts in ihe White 
murder case is a model : 

**The circumstances now clearly in evidence spread out the whole scene 
before us. Deep sleep had fallen on the destined victim, and on all beneath 
his roof. A healthful old man, to whom sleep was sweet, the first sound slum- 
bers of the night held him in their soft but strong embrace. The assassin 
enters, through the window already prepared, into an unoccupied apartment. 
With noiseless foot he paces the lonely hall, half-lighted by the moon ; he 
winds up the ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door of the chamber. Of 
this, he moves the lock, by soft and continued pressure, till it turns on its 
hinges without noise ; and he enters, and beholds his victim before him. The 
room is uncommonly open to the admission of light. The face of the innocent 
sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the beams of the moon, resting on 
the gray locks of his aged temple, show him where to strike. The fatal blow is 
given I and the victim passes, without a struggle or a motion, from the repose of 
sleep to the repose of death! It is the assassin's purpose to make sure work ; 
and he plies the dagger, though it is obvious that life has been destroyed by 
the blow of the bludgeon. He even raises the aged arm, that he may not fai 
in his aim at the heart, and replaces it again over the wounds of the poniard 



NOTES, 243 

To finish the picture, he explores the wrist for the pulse I He feels for it, and 
ascertains that it beats no longer ! It is accomr Wished. The deed is done. 
He retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out through it as he came 
in, and escapes." 

Note LIIL (Page iSo.) 

A reverend doctor, in addressing a school, said that he 
would give the pupils a summary of what they had been 
studying. The teacher asked him to explain the word 
summary to the children; whereupon he said : '* I will ex- 
plain to you, my dear children, what is meant by summary 
— it is an abbreviated synopsis of anything." 

Note LIV. (Page i88.) 

We restrict the use of the word trope in order to second 
the desirable and legitimate efforts of a few writers who are 
seeking a specific word to cover these adjective figures. 

Note LV. (Page 203.) 
The metaphorical definition often involves this figure 

"A fishing-rod is a rod with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.'' 

Dr. Johnson, 
"A politician is a man who serves God so far as to give no offence to the 
devil." Sidney Smith. 

" Strip majesty of its externals, and it is merely a jest — m)a jest(y." 

Edmund Burke, 

Thus also when a metaphor is not involved. A Scotch 
blacksmith's definition of metaphysics is: *• When the 
pairty wha listens disna ken what the pairty wha speaks 
meens, and when the pairty wha speaks disna ken what he 
meens himsel, that is metaphysics." 



Note LVI. (Page 207.) 

The frequent references in this treatise to the Bible as a 
book of rhetorical lore will be found to need no defence if 



244 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

the student will carefully study the references made. The 
Bible will bear an application of the most rigid tests as to 
all varieties of human speech. Aside from this, the fact 
that it is the most universall}' read book and the easiest at 
command, renders it available for reference as is no other. 

Note LVIL (Page 207.) 

English-speaking people are not the only ones ignorant 
of their mother-tongue. Says Courier, a French writer: 
*' There are five or six persons in Europe who know Greek • 
those who know French are much fewer." 

Note LVIII. (Page 208.) 

The literature of this subject is very extensive, though 
:n this department of knowledge, as in others, after read- 
ing a limited number of the leading authors, not much 
additional can be gained by further reading. The patient 
and persistent practice of speaking and writing will thence- 
forth be of the far greatest service. We give an extended 
list of authors, that the student, in case he has personal 
preferences, or in case his library facilities are such that 
he cannot command much in quantity, may have an ample 
field from which to make available selections. 



GREEK. 
Aristotle : Rhetoric and Poetics, 
L. Lerscii : Die SpracJtphilosopJiie der Alten. 
This treatise is included under Greek authors because it 
Is a compilation of what the ancient Greeks had sair? upon 
Uits subject. 

LATIN. 

Cicero : De Oratore. 
MiCH^LER : De Origine Lirgtice, 
Quintilian: Institutiones Oratorice, 



NOTES. 245 

ITALIAN. 
BiONDELLi : Studil Lhiguistici. 

GERMAN. 
Grimm : Uehcr deji Ursfrung der SpracJie. 
Pott : Etymologische Forschiinge7t, 
Steinthal : Der Ursprung der SpracJie. 

** Grammatih^ Logik und Psychologies 

** CJiaral'ieristik der hauptsdcJilichsten lypen 

des Sprachbaues, 
** Gesc/ii'c/ite der Sprac/iwissensc/iafL 

** Philologies Geschichte und Psychologie. 

A.UG. Schleicher : Vergleicheiide Grainmatik, 

" Die Darivinsche Theorie und di€ 

Sprachwissenschaft. 
Heyse : System der Sprachvjissenschaft. 
BoPP : Comparative Grammar* 
F. Hitzig : Die Erfindung des Alphabctes. 
Herder : Der Ursprung der Sprache. 
C. Hermann : Das Problem der Sprache, 
F. Wullner: Ucber den Ursprung der Sprache. 
L. Wienbarg : Das Geheimniss des Wortes. 
DiEZ : Gramm. d. romaji, Sprachen, 

*' Etymologisches WOrterbuch. 
Teremin's Rhetoric. 

FRENCH. 

E. Arnould : Essai de Theorie et d'llist. Litteraire, 
PiCTET : Ees Origines Indo-europeennes. 
Egger : Notions Elementaires de Grammairc Comparer* 
Renan : Hist, des Eangues Stmitiques. 

*' De rOrigi7ie du La n gage, 

Charma ; Essai sur Ic Langage, 
C. Nodier : Notions de Linguistique, 
Varinot : Diet, des Metaphores. 
SCHELER : Diet, d' Etymologic Fran(^aise. 



•^46 THE ART OF SPEECH, 

NiSARD : Curiosites d' Etymologie Eranqaise. 

Etienne du Ponceau : Mem. sur le Syst^me Grammatt- 

cat des I^angtics Itidiemies, 
Lr. Benloew : Sur quelques Caracitres des Langages 

Pn'initifs, 
Chavke • Les Langues ct les Races. 
Lad^vi Roche : De V Origins du Lav gage. 
F. Baudry: De la Science dti Langage et de son Etai 

Actuel. 
P. Mervoyer : Etudes sur V Association des Idees. 
Maine de Biran : Origine du Langage : CEuvres Iw 
idites^ iii. 229 sq^. Bulletins de la Societe d'Atithropologie* 

ENGLISH. 

Alford : The ^ueen^s English, 

Angus : Handbook of the EnglisJi Tongue. 

Bain : English Composition and Rhetoric. 

Bates : English Analysis. 

Brewer : Guide to English Composition, 

BuNSEN : Phil, of Universal History. 

Campbell : Philosophy of Rhetoric. 

Clark : Elements of the English Language. 

Crombie : English Etymology and Syntax. 

Day: The Science of yEsthetics,^ 

De Mille : Elements of Rhetoric. 

DwiGiiT : Modern Philology (First and Second Series). 

Farrar : Language and Languages. 

Hart : Composition and Rhetoric. 

Hill : Principles of Rhetoric. 

Kames : Elements of Criticism. 

Key (T. Hewitt) : The Alphabet. 

Kerl : Composition and Rhetoric. 

Latham : The English Language. 

Lewis (Sir G. C.) : Essay on the Romance Languages^ 

Lord : The Laws of Figurative Language, 

Macbeth : Might and Mirth of Literature, 



NOTES. 247 

Marsh : Manual of the English Language, 
'* Lectures on the English Language. 

Moon Bad English. 

'* The Dean's Ettglish. 

Max Muller : Survey of Languages. 

*' *" Lectures on the Sciefice of Language* 

Parker ; Aids to English Compositio7i, 
QuACKENBOS : Course of Rhetoric, 
Spencer : Essay on Style. 
SwiNTON : Rambles Among Words. 
Isaac Taylor: Words and Places. 
Horn Tooke : Diver si 07ts of Pur ley. 
Trench : On the Study of Words. 
Whately : Elements of Rhetoric. 

** Syno7tymes. 

Whitney : Language and the Study of Language. 
** Life and Growth of Language. 



THE AI\T OF SPEECH. 

By L. T. TOWNSEND, D. D., 
Professor in Boston University ; author of " Credo," etc 



STUDIES IN POETRY AND PROSE. 

Contents: History of Speech; Theories of the Ori^n of Speech ; Laws 
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Rules; Style; Pigui-es; i^oetic Speech; Prose Speech; Poetic-Prose 
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One volume i8mo. Cloth, 60 cents. 



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By ALFRED AYRES. 

•*The book is likely to do more for the cause of good speech than any 
work with which we are acquainted." 

"The author of 'The Orthocpist' is a well-known teacher of elocution 
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